The shortlist for the 2019 Booker Prize has been announced!

Here are the six books listed on the shortlist:

• The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
• Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
• Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
• An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma
• Quichotte by Salman Rushdie
• 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak

Chair of the 2019 judges, Peter Florence, comments:

‘The common thread is our admiration for the extraordinary ambition of each of these books. There is an abundance of humour, of political and cultural engagement, of stylistic daring and astonishing beauty of language. Like all great literature, these books teem with life, with a profound and celebratory humanity. We have a shortlist of six extraordinary books and we could make a case for each of them as winner, but I want to toast all of them as “winners”. Anyone who reads all six of these books would be enriched and delighted, would be awe-struck by the power of story, and encouraged by what literature can do to set our imaginations free.’

Please join us on Monday 14 October for our special sit-down Booker Prize shortlist dinner at Tolarno Eating House, St Kilda. Tickets are $125 per head and include wine, food and a $50 donation to The Readings Foundation. Find out more about the event here.

The winner of the 2019 Booker Prize will be announced on 14 October at an award ceremony in London, that will also be televised. For more information on the Prize, see the website here.