The Booker Dozen is out now – an eclectic collection of best English novels of 2021.

‘One thing that unites these books is their power to absorb the reader in an unusual story, and to do so in an artful, distinctive voice.’ – Maya Jasanoff, Chair of 2021 Booker Prize Judges

A total of 158 novels published between 1 October 2020 to 20 September 2021 were nominated for the prize. A truly diverse longlist, it contains two debuts – Nathan Harris with The Sweetness of Water and Patricia Lockwood with No One is Talking About This and one Nobel Winner (and the winner of Booker 89 and a strong favorite to win this year’s prize) – Kazuo Ishiguro with Klara and the Sun. Four others were previously short listed or long listed – Damon Galgut, Mary Lawson, Richard Powers, and Sunjeev Sahota

This year’s ‘Booker Dozen’, of 13 novels, is:

• A Passage North, Anuk Arudpragasam (Granta Books, Granta Publications)
• Second Place, Rachel Cusk, (Faber)
• The Promise, Damon Galgut, (Chatto & Windus, Vintage, PRH)
• The Sweetness of Water, Nathan Harris (Tinder Press, Headline, Hachette Book Group)
• Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro (Faber)
• An Island, Karen Jennings (Holland House Books)
• A Town Called Solace, Mary Lawson (Chatto & Windus, Vintage, PRH)
• No One is Talking About This, Patricia Lockwood (Bloomsbury Circus, Bloomsbury Publishing)
• The Fortune Men, Nadifa Mohamed (Viking, Penguin General, PRH)
• Bewilderment, Richard Powers (Hutchinson Heinemann, PRH)
• China Room, Sunjeev Sahota (Harvill Secker, Vintage, PRH)
• Great Circle, Maggie Shipstead (Doubleday, Transworld Publishers, PRH)
• Light Perpetual, Francis Spufford (Faber)

In a collaboration with technology specialist Jellybooks, the longlisted titles are available to explore via a dedicated online 2021 Booker Prize Magazine. Powered by Jellybooks’ new interactive online platform, the magazine enables readers to learn more about each book and read a sample. The 2021 Booker Prize Magazine will be accessible here: jbks.co/the-2021-longlist 

This is something new – and exciting. Do try it out!

---