Libyan Writer Hisham Matar Makes it to Booker Prize Longlist

British-Libyan writer Hisham Matar makes it to the 2024 Booker Prize longlist, the winners of which will be announced on Tuesday, Nov. 12.

 

 

 

 

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This is the second time Matar has been nominated for the Booker Prize. His debut novel 'In the Country of Men' was shortlisted in 2006.

His book 'My Friend' has made it to the longlist this year and it is about two Libyan friends in the UK whose lives take a different turn after being injured outside of the Libyan embassy in London.

The shortlist will be announced on Saturday, Oct. 12. The winning author will receive $61,000 and a trophy named Iris after the writer Iris Murdoch. 

The judging panel for this year's Booker Prize features Edmund de Waal, Sara Collins, Justine Jordan, Yiyun Li, and Nitin Sawhney. 

Matar's memoir 'The Return' won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography and the 2017 PEN America Jean Stein Book Award.

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