Longlist for the 2008 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize announced
Almost 100 books were entered for the 2008 prize; from these, a longlist of 17 books has been selected by the judges (Kate Griffin, Arts Council England; Abdulrazak Gurnah, novelist and professor at the University of Kent; Florence Noiville, literary editor of Le Monde; and Boyd Tonkin, literary editor of the Independent).
The longlist, in alphabetical order of author, is as follows:
Alaa Al-Asway The Yacoubian Building, translated by Humphrey Davies from the Arabic (Fourth Estate)
Read our review
Bi Feiyu The Moon Opera (Howard Goldblatt; Chinese; Telegram)
Lars Saabye Christensen The Model (Don Bartlett; Norwegian; Arcadia)
Jenny Erpenbeck The Book of Words (Susan Bernofsky; German; Portobello Books)
Pawel Huelle Castorp (Antonia Lloyd-Jones; Polish; Serpent's Tail)
Ismail Kadare Agamemnon's Daughter (David Bellos; French; Canongate)
Sayed Kashua Let It Be Morning (Miriam Shlesinger; Hebrew; Atlantic)
Daniel Kehlmann Measuring the World (Carol Brown Janeway; German; Quercus)
Erwin Mortier Shutterspeed (Ina Rilke; Dutch; Harvill Secker)
Read our review
Marlene van Niekerk The Way of the Women (Michiel Heyns; Afrikaans; Little, Brown)
Bengt Ohlsson Gregorius (Silvester Mazzarella; Swedish; Portobello Books)
Alan Pauls The Past (Nick Caistor; Spanish; Harvill Secker)
Peter Pist'anek Rivers of Babylon (Peter Petro; Slovak; Garnett Press)
Laura Restrepo Delirium (Natasha Wimmer; Spanish; Harvill Secker)
Yasmina Traboulsi Bahia Blues (Polly McLean; French; Arcadia)
Paul Verhaeghen Omega Minor (the author; Dutch; Dalkey Archive Press)
Enrique Vila-Matas Montano (Jonathan Dunne; Spanish; Harvill Secker)
Read about the shortlist, which was announced at the end of February.
The prize, worth £10,000, is divided equally between the author and translator, and will be awarded on 8 May.
