The New Academy Prize in Literature: Nominees 2018

Here is the list of the nominees for The New Academy Prize in Literature for 2018, an alternative to the Nobel Prize in Literature. Voting was open from July 10 – August 14. The prize will only be awarded in 2018, as the Nobel Prize in literature should be awarded in 2019.

Since the prize will be announced on October 12, 2018, this is a little out of date, but I thought it would be fun to still learn a  little about the nominees. On the main site there were no links or additional information about each author, so I began compiling a little information about each one.As you can see, I haven’t completed it, yet.

I will continue to update these with a link and summary of their works to broaden my familiarity with international writers.

• Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi – Nigeria – Half of a Yellow Sun, about the Nigerian civil war through the eyes of three people in different roles/classes during the war, Americanah is about a Nigerian coming to America for college. More titles on Amazon. She also gave a TED talk in 2009.

• Anyuru, Johannes – Sweden – He writes poetry and prose about immigrant neiborhoods, dealing with loss (a friend to cancer), socio-political issues. Most books are in Swedish, but A Storm Blew in From Paradise was translated to English.

• Atwood, Margaret – Canada – best know for A Handmaids Tale (1998) also wrote The Heart Goes Last about a couple that losses everything and a “deal of a lifetime” that requires a sacrifice.

• Auster, Paul – US – writes stories where the characters search of identity and personal meaning, often after great loss and tragedy. Man in the Dark is about a dystopian US  following a civil war after 2000 elections.

• Avallone, Silvia – Italy – Italian writer, Swimming to Eden was translated to English.

• Bouraoui, Nina – France – she writes about identity, memory, childhood, celebrity culture. Tomboy, which has an English translation in Amazon, about a girl who speaks French, with a French mother and Algerian father, living in Algeria. It’s semiautobiographical.

• Carson, Anne – Canada – Writes poetry, fiction and non-fiction on mainly greek classics. Has written over 20 books, many seem to be adaptations, translations, or impressions of classics. I couldn’t find a specific novel to point to, but check out her works on Amazon.

• Condé, Maryse – Guadeloupe – writes in French with translations in English. She writes historical fiction about race, gender, and cultural issues. Victoire, My Mother’s Mother is a tale about her maternal grandmother’s struggles.

• DeLillo, Don – US – writes about challenges in the real world through his stories, such as White Noise about commercialism,  Underworld in 1997, and Zero K in 2017

• Edelfeldt, Inger – Sweden

• Ekman, Kerstin – Sweden

• Ferrante, Elena – Italy

• Gaiman, Neil – Great Britain

• Ganman, Jens – Sweden

• Hustvedt, Siri – US

• Jägerfeld, Jenny – Sweden

• Khemiri, Jonas Hassen – Sweden

• Kincaid, Jamaica – US

• Levithan, David – US

• Louis, Édouard – France

• Lundell, Ulf – Sweden

• Lövestam, Sara – Sweden

• McCarthy, Cormac – US

• McEwan, Ian – Great Britain

• Murakami,Haruki – Japan

• Oates, Joyce Carol – US

• Okorafor, Nnedi – US

• Oksanen, Sofi – Finland

• Oz, Amos – Israel

• Paborn, Sara – Sweden

• Pleijel, Agneta – Sweden

• Pynchon, Thomas – US

• Robinson, Marilynne – US

• Rosoff, Meg – US

• Rowling, J.K. – Great Britain

• Roy, Arundhati – India

• Schiefauer, Jessica – Sweden

• Smith, Patti – US

• Smith, Zadie – Great Britain

• Stamm, Peter – Switzerland

• Stefánsson, Jón Kalman – Iceland

• Stridsberg, Sara – Sweden

• Tartt, Donna – US

• Thúy, Kim – Canada

• Tokarczuk, Olga – Poland

• wa Thiong’o, Ngugi – Kenya

• Winterson, Jeanette – UK