Female authors dominate International Booker Prize's 2020 shortlist

Six international writers have been shortlisted for the 2020 International Booker Prize, out of 124 submissions. Photo: AFP

Six international writers have been shortlisted for this year's prestigious literary prize, which is awarded to the best book translated into English and published in Britain or Ireland. The contenders of the International Booker Prize, who are mostly women for the second year in a row, were announced on April 2 in London.

"Each of our shortlisted books restlessly reinvents received narratives, from foundational myths to family folklore, plunging us into discomforting and elating encounters with selves in a state of transition. Whether capturing a deftly imagined dystopia or incandescent flows of language, these are tremendous feats of translation, which in these isolating times, represent the pinnacle of an art-form rooted in dialogue," said Ted Hodgkinson, chair of the judges, of this year's shortlist in a statement.