LONDON (AP) 鈥� winners and are in the running again for the prestigious fiction award, alongside Dublin gangs, dystopian science fiction and the New England characters of Pulitzer Prize laureate .
Judges read 163 novels to come up with the 13 semifinalists announced Tuesday for the 50,000 pound ($66,000) Booker Prize, a list described by historian Mary Beard, head of the judging panel, as literary 鈥渄ynamite.鈥�
The list includes James鈥� 鈥淭he Disappearers,鈥� about a group of gay men in a hostile 1980s Jamaica; Stuart鈥檚 鈥� a story of father-son secrets on a remote Scottish island; and Strout鈥檚 heartfelt small-town tale 鈥淭he Things We Never Say.鈥�
James won the Booker in 2015 for 鈥淎 Brief History of Seven Killings鈥� and Stuart won in 2020 for 鈥淪huggie Bain.鈥� Strout鈥檚 鈥淥h William!鈥� was a finalist in 2022. She won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2009 for 鈥淥live Kitteridge.鈥�
They sit alongside lesser-known names on a Booker longlist that includes authors with roots in Britain, Ireland, Jamaica, Mexico, Turkey and the United States.
Three of those on the list are debut authors: Turkish-American writer Kenan Orhan for family history story 鈥淭he Renovation,鈥� British author Rebecca Perry for Medieval-to-modern tale 鈥淢ay We Feed the King鈥� and Ireland鈥檚 Djamel White for 鈥淎ll Them Dogs,鈥� a thriller set in the Dublin underworld.
White, at 28, is the youngest author in the running. The oldest is 81-year-old M. John Harrison, whose postapocalyptic tale 鈥淭he End of Everything鈥� is a rare science fiction novel to make the Booker list.
The other contenders are 鈥淭he Shadow of the Object鈥� by Chloe Aridjis, 鈥淏lack Bag鈥� by Luke Kennard, 鈥淭he Vivisectors鈥� by Missouri Williams, 鈥淪witzy鈥� by Emma Cline, 鈥淗elen of Nowhere鈥� by Makenna Goodman and Gwendoline Riley鈥檚 鈥淭he Palm House.鈥�
Beard said the five jurors, who include Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker and American novelist Patricia Lockwood, tried to look beyond the idea of a typical Booker winner 鈥� 鈥渟lightly serious, about to be classic.鈥� Instead they chose novels that are 鈥渢rying to expand the boundaries of how we can think about ourselves in completely different ways,鈥�
鈥淪ometimes they鈥檙e using humor, sometimes it鈥檚 pathos, sometimes there鈥檚 shock value,鈥� Beard said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e risk-takers. They are dynamite. They say 鈥楥ome on, try seeing it a different way.鈥欌��
Founded in 1969, the Booker Prize has a reputation for transforming writers鈥� careers and is open to novels from any country published in the U.K. and Ireland. Last year鈥檚 winner was 鈥淔lesh鈥� by Hungarian-British writer David Szalay.
The judges will announce six finalists on Sept. 22, and the winner will be revealed Nov. 9 at a ceremony in London.
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