Lesbian author Sarah Waters on Booker Prize shortlist
Lesbian author Sarah Waters is one of six authors on the Booker Prize shortlist, which was announced today.
Waters is on the list for her novel The Little Stranger. She has been shortlisted twice before, for her works Fingersmith and The Night Watch.
She told PinkNews.co.uk: “I am absolutely delighted to be on the shortlist. I am a fan of all the other writers on the list, so it is a great thrill and honour to see my book up there alongside theirs.”
AS Byatt, whose novel Possession triumphed in 1990, is on the list for The Children’s Book, while JM Coetzee, a previous two-time winner, has been nominated for Summertime.
Chair of the judges James Naughtie said: “We’re thrilled to be able to announce such a strong shortlist, so enticing that it will certainly give us a headache when we come to select the winner.
“The choice will be a difficult one. There is thundering narrative, great inventiveness, poetry and sharp human insight in abundance.”
Among the other judges making up the 2009 panel are Michael Prodger, literary editor of the Sunday Telegraph, the lesbian comedian and broadcaster Sue Perkins, and the academic John Mullan.
The six candidates are:
AS Byatt – The Children’s Book
JM Coetzee – Summertime
Adam Foulds – The Quickening Maze
Hilary Mantel – Wolf Hall
Simon Mawer – The Glass Room
Sarah Waters – The Little Stranger
