The list was published today and also features the first Jamaican author in contention for the 50,000-pound ($78,000) prize. Obioma is based in Nebraska, United States.
Marlon James is nominated for his third novel, “A Brief History of Seven Killings,” the story of the attempted assassination of reggae singer Bob Marley and its aftermath in the Jamaica of the 1970s and early 80s.
Also in contention are 2007 winner Anne Enright and writers from India, New Zealand, Ireland, the U.S. and Britain.
The list will be whittled down to six on Sept. 15 and the winner will be announced on Oct. 13 in London’s Guildhall.
First awarded in 1969, the prize’s list of previous winners features many of the literary giants of the last four decades, from Salman Rushdie and Hilary Mantel to Iris Murdoch and Ian McEwan.
The rules of the prize changed in 2013 to open it to writers beyond Britain and the Commonwealth.
Last year’s winning novel, “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” by Richard Flanagan, sold almost 800,000 copies worldwide.
After considering 156 books for this year’s prize, the five judges chose the following 13 novels for the 2015 long list:
Author (nationality) Title (publisher) Bill Clegg (US) Did You Ever Have a Family (Jonathan Cape) Anne Enright (Ireland) The Green Road (Jonathan Cape) Marlon James (Jamaica) A Brief History of Seven Killings (Oneworld Publications) Laila Lalami (US) The Moor’s Account (Periscope, Garnet Publishing) Tom McCarthy (UK) Satin Island (Jonathan Cape) Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria) The Fishermen (One, Pushkin Press) Andrew O’Hagan (UK) The Illuminations (Faber & Faber) Marilynne Robinson (US) Lila (Virago) Anuradha Roy (India) Sleeping on Jupiter (MacLehose Press, Quercus) Sunjeev Sahota (UK) The Year of the Runaways (Picador) Anna Smaill (New Zealand) The Chimes (Sceptre) Anne Tyler (US) A Spool of Blue Thread (Chatto & Windus) Hanya Yanagihara (US) A Little Life (Picador)
The Fishermen is Obioma ‘ s first novel and has enjoyed rave reviews on BBC and New York Times.It is the story of four brothers whose decision to skip school to go fishing sets in motion a series of life-changing events.
Here are some reviews:
“In his exploration of the mysterious and the murderous, of the terrors that can take hold of the human mind, of the colors of life in Africa, with its vibrant fabrics and its trees laden with fruit, and most of all in his ability to create dramatic tension in this most human of African stories, Chigozie Obioma truly is the heir to Chinua Achebe.” Fiammetta Rocco, The New York Times.
“Awesome in the true sense of the word…Few novels deserve to be called ‘mythic,’ but Chigozie Obioma’s THE FISHERMEN is certainly one of them. A truly magnificent debut.”–Eleanor Catton, author of The Luminaries (Man Booker Prize)
Read the first chapter here:fishermen_chapter1-1