The UK’s Folio Prize, which claims to be “the first major English language book prize open to writers from around the world,” has just announced its shortlist for the 2015 prize. The eight titles on the shortlist are selected by The Folio Prize Academy, “an international group of people, primarily writers and critics, who are immersed in the world of books,” which also supplies the five judges for this year’s prize.

“Sponsored by The Folio Society, celebrated publisher of beautiful editions of the world’s greatest books, the prize recognises the best English-language fiction from around the world, regardless of form, genre or the author’s country of origin,” states the Prize’s announcement. “Independent publishers make a strong showing, with Faber and Granta representing three titles each, while the world’s largest English language publisher, Penguin Random House, represents the remaining two places on the list. A number of these books are explicitly engaged with the process of writing itself, with each in its own way triumphantly affirming the unique role storytelling plays in making sense of our complex world.”

The Folio Prize itself will be awarded on March 23rd at the culmination of the Folio Prize Fiction Festival at the British Library. The Folio Society produces “exquisitely bound slipcased editions of fiction and non-fiction,” and its business shows no signs of waning in the ebook era.

 

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