Booker Prize judge hails ‘wonderful surprise’ of five women among shortlist

Booker Prize judge Sara Collins has said this year’s shortlist which features the most women in its 55-year history is a “wonderful, genuine surprise”.

Collins, who is best known for writing The Confessions Of Frannie Langton, said the “tremendous” nominated books written by the five women “rose to the top on merit”.

She went on to say that publishing is “dominated at certain levels by women” but added that “literary recognition” is still largely “reserved for men”.

The 2024 shortlist is made up of Samantha Harvey for her book Orbital, Rachel Kushner for Creation Lake, Anne Michaels for Held, Yael van der Wouden for the Safekeep, Charlotte Wood for Stone Yard Devotional, and US writer Percival Everett for James, the only man on the list.

Speaking about the female-dominated shortlist, Collins said: “It was a genuine surprise to us. We came up with a shortlist, we sat back and looked at the pile, and someone said, ha, there are five women there.

“So the first thing to say is that these books rose to the top on merit, they are tremendous books.

“But that was also a thing that made me feel like I could weep with joy. It was such a gratifying, surprising, thrilling moment to realise, especially coming off the back of the year with three Pauls, it’s time for the Paulettes and Paulinas.

“It’s funny because publishing, in my experience as a writer is that publishing is sort of dominated at certain levels by women, but the literary recognition seemed to be reserved for men.

“It’s really, really lovely to be involved in a year where the depth and breadth, and heart and skill of books that are being written by women is recognised, and also the literary merit, these are real heavyweight writers.

“I think Samantha Harvey has been doing brilliant work for a long time, perhaps (unsung) as well as Anne Michaels. I mean (unsung) in the sense of the massive commercial success that they should have had. Charlotte is the same, people who are well established, and for whom I think this recognition is well deserved.

“It’s just a wonderful, genuine surprise.”

Collins’ fellow judge Justine Jordan, the Guardian’s fiction editor, went on to speak about TikTok’s influence on sales of the nominated books.

She said: “I think enthusiasm can be everywhere on every platform.

“We tweet about books, we write whole books about books, and I suspect if you go into TikTok, you will find these books, and you will find people, especially being moved by them.

“I mean, that does seem to be a big theme in TikTok, doesn’t it? This made me cry, this made me sadder than I’ve ever been before.

“I think these books will definitely find their TikTok readers, as well as their older readers.”

The rest of the judging panel is made up of musician Nitin Sawhney, writer and professor Yiyun Li, and is chaired by artist and author Edmund de Waal.

This year’s Booker Prize ceremony is being held on November 12, and the winning author will receive £50,000 and a trophy.

Last year’s winner was Irish author Paul Lynch and his dystopian novel Prophet Song.