Introducing the 2024 International Booker Prize Shadow Panel!

Well, it’s almost that time of year again, when the good old Booker people (or their five representatives, anyway) put their heads together and come up with a longlist for that highlight of the literary calendar, the International Booker Prize!  In 2024, the longlist announcement will be on the 11th of March, with the shortlist following on the 9th of April.  Then there’s a fair gap until the winner is revealed on the 21st of May.

But why am I bringing this up?  Well, as it happens, the five people on the official panel aren’t the only ones who’ll be reading the longlisted books – we will be, too.  And by we I mean, of course, our Shadow Panel!  There’s been a Shadow Panel of sorts since 2012, when we read all the longlisted titles for this prize’s spiritual predecessor, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and this year will be the thirteenth time we’ve cast our eyes over the books chosen by the official judges, making some of us very old hands at this game, indeed…

What we do is fairly simple.  We wait for the official judges to announce the longlist, then try to read as many of the books as possible (we used to do this in time for the shortlist announcement, but as the gap between the two announcements has grown ever shorter, we usually give ourselves a few more weeks).  After discussions and scoring, we announce a shortlist – which can be different from the official selection – from which we will choose a winner, to be revealed on the morning of the official announcement.

Over the years, many readers and reviewers have participated, and this year sees nine ten intrepid souls readying themselves for whatever the official judges choose to throw at them.  But just who will be undertaking this arduous task?  Let’s find out, by introducing you to the International Booker Prize Shadow Panel for 2024!

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Tony Malone (Twitter/X: @tony_malone) is an occasional ESL teacher and full-time reader, whose reviews have been appearing regularly at Tony’s Reading List for just over fifteen years.  A major focus there is on Japanese literature, with far too much time spent looking at The Tale of Genji.  For a while now, he’s also been branching out into translation, with a number of works of German literature brought into English for the first time at his site (such as his most recent ‘publication’, Eduard Graf von Keyserling’s Am Südhang, AKA On Southern Slopes).  In 2024, like every year, he’ll be waiting for the longlist announcement with bated breath, hoping for the best and expecting something slightly less impressive…

Stu Allen (@stujallen), the everyman of translated fiction, has been blogging for fourteen  years and has reviewed over a thousand books from more than one hundred ten countries at his site, Winstonsdad’s Blog. He founded the original Shadow IFFP Jury back in 2012, as well as the Twitter hashtag #translationthurs. By day, he works for the NHS as a care support worker, helping  people with learning disabilities in a community crisis team in the learning disabilities team in sunny Derbyshire. He’s married to Amanda, loves indie music, is a fan of vinyl, foreign films and real ale, and is pleased to be shadowing the prize for another year.

Meredith Smith has been writing about books at her site, Dolce Bellezza, since 2006. When she retired after teaching for 36 years, she found much more time to devote to her passion of reading translated literature. (Retirement also provided her the time to become a leader for Bible Study Fellowship International.) She has hosted the Japanese Literature Challenge for seventeen years and been a member of the Shadow Jury for ten. It is her great joy to read and discuss books from around the world with both the panel and fellow readers.

David Hebblethwaite (@David_Heb) is a reader and reviewer originally from Yorkshire, UK. He writes about books at David’s Book World, and is also on Goodreads, and Instagram @davidsworldofbooks. The Shadow Panel was instrumental in developing his interest in translated fiction, and it has become a highlight of his reading year. There are always interesting books to read, and illuminating discussions to be had.

Oisin Harris (@literaryty), based in Canterbury in the UK, reviews books at the Literaryty blog. He earned an English degree from Sussex University and an MA in Publishing from Kingston University. He is a librarian at the University of Kent and a co-editor and contributor for The Publishing Post’s Books in Translation Team, as well as the creator of the Translator Spotlight series where prominent translators are interviewed to demystify the craft of translation. His work on Women in Translation was published in the 2020 research eBook of the Institute for Translation and Interpreting, entitled Translating Women: Activism in Action (edited by Olga Castro and Helen Vassallo).

Frances Evangelista (@nonsuchbook) works as an educator in Washington DC. She elected a career in teaching because she assumed it would provide her with lots of reading time. This was an incorrect assumption. However, she loves her work and still manages to read widely, remember the years she blogged about books fondly, chat up books on Twitter and BlueSky, and participate in lots of great shared reading experiences. More recently, she also podcasts at One Bright Book. This is her seventh year as a shadow panelist for the International Booker Prize.

Vivek Tejuja (@vivekisms) is a book blogger and reviewer from India, based in Mumbai. He loves to read books in Indian languages and translated editions of languages around the world (well, essentially world fiction, if that’s a thing). He is Culture Editor at Verve Magazine and blogs at The Hungry Reader. He is also the author of So Now You Know, a memoir of growing up gay in Mumbai in the 90s, published by Harper Collins India. His second book, Strange Bedfellows, is out in December 2024, by Harper Collins India. 

Paul Fulcher (@fulcherpaul) is a Wimbledon, UK based fan of translated fiction, who is active on Goodreads, where he contributes to a MBI readers’ group.  He is a Trustee of the Republic of Consciousness Foundation, which runs the Republic of Consciousness Prize (@prizeRofC), which rewards innovative fiction, including in translation, from small independent presses. His reviews can be found on his Goodreads page.

Jeremy Koenig (@KoenigRMHS) is a high school English teacher in Rockville, MD.  Over the years, he’s become a fierce champion of translated literature and small presses, both making up the bulk of his Best of the Year lists.  His reading life has been greatly enriched by the other members of this shadow panel, to whom he’s deeply grateful.  He’s currently studying Norwegian in order to read Jon Fosse’s work in the original.  As a competitive crossword solver (and constructor), he competes regularly in the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.  This is his second year as a shadow panelist.

Marina Sofia is a blogger, writer and translator (from Romanian and German), currently living in the UK but planning to move to Germany later this year. A few years ago she set up a publishing house, Corylus Books, with a couple of friends, with the purpose of bringing a more diverse type of crime fiction in translation to the English-speaking world. She helped set up Asymptote Journal’s Book Club for Translated Literature and has also worked with Crime Fiction Lover, Geneva Writers Group, Necessary Fiction and the Stephen Spender Trust. You can find her wasting her time on Twitter (@MarinaSofia8) or BlueSky (@marinasofia.bluesky.social) and reviewing on her blog Finding Time to Write.

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And that’s the whole gang!  By this time of year, we’re all eager to go, but while we’re waiting, there’s also a lot of speculation going on.  I’m sure you all have your own ideas as to what will (or should) make the cut, but come back soon for a very personal look at how the list might look come the 11th of March – any guesses as to what’s on my wishlist? 😉