Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s book longlisted for 2021 International Booker Prize

Kenyan Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s book The Perfect Nine: The Epic Gikuyu and Mumbi, originally written in Gikuyu, is among 13 books that have been longlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize.

The 13 books were selected from an initial list of 125 books.

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