The 2020 Booker Prize longlist is here!

Thirteen incredible books have made it onto the 2020 Booker Prize longlist, which has just been revealed in London!

Hilary Mantel has been nominated for the third time for The Mirror & the Light, the epic conclusion to her trilogy about the life of Thomas Cromwell. A 2020 win from Mantel would be historic, given that the previous novels in the trilogy, Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies, were both Booker Prize winners. Elsewhere, the list has been dominated by an unusually high number of debut novels from authors such as Kiley Reid, Brandon Taylor and C Pam Zhang, as well as novels from well-established voices such as Colum McCann, Tsitsi Dangarembga and Anne Tyler.

The longlist was selected from 162 submissions by the judging panel, which this year consists of Margaret Busby, Lee Child, Sameer Rahim, Lemn Sissay and Emily Wilson. The 2020 Chair, Margaret Busby, says,

“Each of these books carries an impact that has earned it a place on the longlist, deserving of wide readership. Included are novels carried by the sweep of history with memorable characters brought to life and given visibility, novels that represent a moment of cultural change, or the pressures an individual faces in pre- and post-dystopian society. Some of the books focus on interpersonal relationships that are complex, nuanced, emotionally charged. There are voices from minorities often unheard, stories that are fresh, bold and absorbing. The best fiction enables the reader to relate to other people’s lives; sharing experiences that we could not ourselves have imagined is as powerful as being able to identify with characters.”

The Booker shortlist will be revealed on the 15th of September. Scroll down to see the full longlist!

Apeirogon by Colum McCann

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste

This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga

The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel

Who They Was by Gabriel Krauze

Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi

The New Wilderness by Diane Cook

Love and Other Thought Experiments by Sophie Ward

How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang

Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

Congratulations to all of the authors on the 2020 Booker Prize longlist!

Find out more about the Booker Prize here.

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Olivia Fricot

Olivia Fricot (she/her) is Booktopia's Senior Content Producer and editor of the Booktopian blog. She has too many plants and not enough bookshelves, and you can usually find her reading, baking, or talking to said plants. She is pro-Oxford comma.

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