Author Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness has not made it to the shortlist of the Man Booker Prize 2017. The shortlist of six novels was announced on Wednesday.
The shortlist includes Paul Auster’s 4321, Emily Fridlund’s History of Wolves, Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West, Elmet by Fiona Mozley, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders and Ali Smith’s Autumn. American author Colson Whitehead, whose nominated book The Underground Railroad won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize, did not make the cut either.
The shortlist was whittled down from a longlist of 13 books. The six shortlisted authors each will receive £2,500 (approximately Rs 2 lakh) and a specially bound edition of their book.
Roy’s novel is about an Indian transgender woman, and has episodes from modern Indian history such as the 2002 Godhra train burning incident and the Kashmir unrest. It was published 20 years after her debut novel The God of Small Things, for which she had won the Man Booker Prize in 1997.
The competition is judged by Baroness Lola Young (Chair), Lila Azam Zanganeh, Sarah Hall, Tom Phillips and Colin Thubron. The winner of the 2017 Man Booker Prize will be announced on October 17 in London.
Buy an annual Scroll Membership to support independent journalism and get special benefits.
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!