Petina Gappah Enlisted As Judge For The International Booker Prize 2022

The Zimbabwean writer, Petina Gappah has been selected as one of the judges for The International Booker Prize 2022 amongst all other four judges.

Petina Gappah is a Zimbabwean lawyer and writer who writes in English. Although, she also writes in her native language, Shona. In 2016, she was named African Literary Person of the Year by Brittle Paper. Some of Petina Gappah's works are:  An Elergy For Easterly , Out Of Darkness Shining Light: A Novel, Rotten Row. One of her best works is The Book Of Memory by Petina Gappah.

The Book Of Memory Petina Gappah:

 "The none-too-subtly named Memory, an albino woman imprisoned in a bleak Zimbabwean prison, is convicted of the murder of Lloyd, a wealthy white professor. As she awaits the results of her appeal, she pieces her fragmented childhood recollections into a tentative, jumbled ­autobiography. But the events she recalls resist interpretation, and she is left to make sense of scenes she can neither forget nor explain." —culled from NY Times.

The Zimbabwean writer, Petina Gappah has been selected as one of the judges for The International Booker Prize 2022 amongst all other four judges. 

Sneak peak about the The International Booker Prize

The International Booker Prize is one of the most prestigious prize for writers whose works have been translated into other languages aside their original languages. The Writers' Prize is recognized among literary scholars all over the world. The winner for the 2021 International Booker Prize was David Diop.

In this previous years, a cash prize of $1,000 was to be shared between the translator and the author of the winning book. However, there has been some considerable increase in the cash prize to $2,500.

More To Know About The Prize:

The Booker Prize

The leading literary award in the English speaking world, which has brought recognition, reward and readership to outstanding fiction for over 50 years. Awarded annually to the best novel of the year written in English and published in the UK or Ireland.

The International Booker Prize

Awarded annually for a single book, translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland. The vital work of translators is celebrated, with the prize money divided equally between the author and translator

Judges Of The International Booker Prize 2022.

On 14th July, 2021, the organizer of the International Booker Prize announces the list of judges for which Petina Gappah was included. On the same day, the submission window was also announced open.

The panel is chaired by translator, Frank Wynne, and consists of: author and academic Merve Emre; writer and lawyer Petina Gappah; TV presenter, writer and actor Mel Giedroyc; and translator and author Jeremy Tiang. This is the first time a translator has chaired the panel. 

The 2022 judging panel will be looking for the best work of translated fiction, selected from entries published in the UK or Ireland between 1 May 2021 and 30 April 2022.

Discussing on the selected judges, Fiammetta Rocco, Administrator of the International Booker Prize, says:

"The five judges, led by Frank Wynne, bring together a wealth of experience as world-class readers, writers, critics and translators. The discussions they will have about the books in contention for the 2022 International Booker Prize will be a masterclass of modern literary appreciation."

Hence, it's outright to say there's a lot in expectations this year just like the previous years. The International Booker Prize has been more of a benefit to writers, especially in terms of global recognition. Speaking from an objective point of view, here's a bit of the effect of being announced a winner:

"The announcement of the 2021 winner, At Night All Blood is Black, was met with both public and critical acclaim, with the book’s publisher, Pushkin Press, ordering a five-figure reprint the day after the winner announcement. The week following the winner announcement, sales of At Night All Blood is Black saw a 477% sale increase on the week before. President Barack Obama, a keen follower of both of The Booker Prizes, listed At Night All Blood is Black at the top of his summer reading list."—culled for The Booker Prize Website.

 

The International Booker Prize 2022 Longlist

The ‘Booker Dozen’ of 12 or 13 books on the 2022 International Prize longlist will be announced in March 2022 and the shortlist of six books in April. The winners will be announced in May.

The 2021 International Booker Prize longlist

1. I Live in the Slums by Can Xue, translated from Chinese by Karen Gernant & Chen Zeping, Yale University Press
2. At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop, translated from French by Anna Mocschovakis, Pushkin Press
3. The Pear Field by Nana Ekvtimishvili, translated from Georgian by Elizabeth Heighway, Peirene Press
4. The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez, translated from Spanish by Megan McDowell, Granta Books
5. When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut, translated from Spanish by Adrian Nathan West, Pushkin Press
6. The Perfect Nine: The Epic Gikuyu and Mumbi by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, translated from Gikuyu by the author, VINTAGE, Harvill Secker
7. The Employees by Olga Ravn, translated from Danish by Martin Aitken, Lolli Editions
8. Summer Brother by Jaap Robben, translated from Dutch by David Doherty, World Editions
9. An Inventory of Losses by Judith Schalansky, translated from German by Jackie Smith, Quercus, MacLehose Press
10. Minor Detail by Adania Shibli, translated from Arabic by Elisabeth Jaquette, Fitzcarraldo Editions
11. In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova, translated from Russian by Sasha Dugdale, Fitzcarraldo Editions
12. Wretchedness by Andrzej Tichý, translated from Swedish by Nichola Smalley, And Other Stories
13. The War of the Poor by Éric Vuillard, translated from French by Mark Polizzotti, Pan Macmillan, Picador
14.