The shortlist for the Booker Prize 2019 was announced on Tuesday, with six books included. Four women – Margaret Atwood (a previous winner) Lucy Ellmann, Bernardine Evaristo, and Elif Shafak – are on the list, along with two men, Chigozie Obioma and former Booker winner Salman Rushdie.

The shortlisted writers represent six countries: Canada, India, Nigeria, Turkey, and the UK. The jury comprises Peter Florence (chair), Afua Hirsch, Liz Calder, Xiaolu Guo, and Joanna MacGregor. The winner will be announced on October 14. The prize money is £50,000.

According to Florence: “The common thread is our admiration for the extraordinary ambition of each of these books. There is an abundance of humour, of political and cultural engagement, of stylistic daring and astonishing beauty of language. Like all great literature, these books teem with life, with a profound and celebratory humanity.”

Here is the full list:

  • The Testaments, Margaret Atwood
  • Ducks, Newburyport, Lucy Ellmann
  • Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine Evaristo
  • An Orchestra of Minorities, Chigozie Obioma
  • Quichotte, Salman Rushdie
  • 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World, Elif Shafak
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