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Ivorian Writer, Gauz, Shortlisted for 2023 International Booker Prize

Ivorian Writer, Gauz, Shortlisted for 2023 International Booker Prize

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This year’s shortlist, described by the chair of judges as “a list of remarkable variety,” will announce its winner at a ceremony in London on the 23rd of May, 2023.

By Hope Ibiale

Ivorian writer, Gauz, has been announced as one of the writers shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. The writer, who is the only author of African descent on the list, was nominated for his book, Debout-Payé, translated by Frank Wyne as Standing Heavy. This year’s shortlist, described by the chair of judges as, “a list of remarkable variety,” will announce its winner at a ceremony in London on the 23rd of May, 2023.

The shortlisted writers include:

Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel, translated by Rosalind Harvey.

Standing Heavy by Gauz, translated by Frank Wyne.

Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov, translated by Angela Rodel.

The Gospel According to the New World by Maryse Conde, translated by Richard Philcox.

Whale by Cheon Myeong-Kwan, translated by Chi-Young Kim.

Boulder by Eva Baltasar, translated by Julia Sanches.

Shortlisted books

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Portrait of Gauz (pen name of Armand Patrick Gbaka-Brede (Gbaka Brede) 20/07/2018 ©NIESZAWER/Leextra/Leemage

Novelist Leïla Slimani, chair of the judges for this year’s prize, said the books on the list were “Bold, subversive, nicely perverse.” “There is something sneaky about all of them. I also feel these are very sensual books where the question of the body is important; what it is to be and have a body, how do you write about the experience of the body,” she added.

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This year’s six chosen books include two translated from languages that have never been featured before in the prize: Eva Baltasar’s Boulder is translated by Julia Sanches from the original Catalan. In contrast, Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov is translated from Bulgarian by Angela Rodel. There is also a balance in gender, as three female and three male authors are on the list.

(Read also: David Diop is Set to Release a New Novel, Beyond the Door of No Return)

Gauz, whose real name is Patrick Armand-Gbaka Brede, is an Ivorian writer, poet, filmmaker, photographer, and editor of a satirical Ivorian economic newspaper. His debut novel, Debout-Payé, translated by Frank Wyne as Standing Heavy, won the Le prix des libraires. His other works include Black Manoo and Camarade Papa.

The International Booker Prize, formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize, is an annual literary prize awarded to excellent works of fiction from around the world, translated into English and published in Ireland or the UK. The winner and their translator will walk away with a cash prize of £50,000, while the shortlisted authors and translators will each receive £2,500.

Slimani, Tan Twan Eng, Frederick Studemann, Parul Sehgal, and Uilleam Blacker are judges of this year’s edition of the International Booker Prize.

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