Malaysian author joins judging panel for the International Booker Prize 2023

'We're expecting to read submissions of approximately 150 novels translated from various languages into English and published in the UK,' says Tan about the International Booker Prize 2023 judging panel's task ahead. Photo: The Star/Filepic

Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng has been announced as one of the judges for next year’s International Booker Prize, a British literary award that highlights fiction from all five continents, translated into English.

“I'm honoured to be the first ever Malaysian author invited to join the panel of judges of the International Booker Prize. We're expecting to read submissions of approximately 150 novels translated from various languages into English and published in the UK,” says Tan, 50, about the literary prize (established in 2005) which continues to build in global importance every year.

His debut novel, The Gift Of Rain, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2007. The Garden Of Evening Mists, his second novel, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2012.

Leila Slimani, a French-Moroccan novelist, will chair the International Booker Prize 2023 judging panel, which also includes Uilleam Blacker, one of Britain’s leading literary translators from Ukrainian, Parul Sehgal, staff writer and critic at the New Yorker; and Frederick Studemann, literary editor of the Financial Times.

The 2023 judging panel will be looking for the best work of translated fiction, selected from entries published in Britain or Ireland between May 1, 2022 and April 30, 2023.

The longlist of 12 or 13 books will be announced in March 2023 and the shortlist of six books in April 2023. The winning title will be announced at a ceremony in May 2023.

Apart from the prominent International Booker Prize judging role, the Penang-born Tan is also set to release The House Of Doors, his first new book in a decade in March 2023.

British independent publisher Canongate will release Tan’s new book.