In its cycles of brutality and violence, it reaches into our solitude and echoes with the power of rewritten myth.”. As grief overwhelms the farm, exacerbated by the foot-and-mouth-outbreak which requires the destruction of their herd, Jas succumbs to a vortex of increasingly disturbing fantasies, watching her family disintegrate into a darkness that threatens to derail them all. The strangeness of a child looking at the strangeness of the world.”, Rijneveld’s 12-year-old brother was knocked down and killed by a bus when they were three. The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, translated by Michele Hutchison from Dutch (Faber & Faber) Irish Times review The judges said: “Rijneveld’s language renders the world anew, revealing the shocks and violence of early youth through the prism of a Dutch dairy farm. It aims to encourage more publishing and reading of international fiction and to promote the work of translators. The shortlist for the International Booker will be announced on 2 April, and the winner on 19 May. Shokoofeh Azar was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1972. “Rijneveld’s language renders the world anew, revealing the shocks and violence of early youth through the prism of a Dutch dairy farm. You can see the complete longlist for even more reading recommendations. Three of the novels, The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar, The Adventures of China Iron by Gabriela Cabezón Cámara and Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann have been inspired by their nations’ histories – namely the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, gaucho culture in 1870s Argentina and the Thirty Years’ War in Germany. You should receive instructions for resetting your password. If everybody’s picking on another boy, you join in’, Betty by Tiffany McDaniel: An epic tale of family and sexual abuse. International Booker Prize 2020 shortlist announced Translations from Spanish, German, Dutch, Farsi and Japanese up for £50,000 prize Thu, Apr 2, 2020, 12:25. Her debut novel La virgen cabeza (Slum Virgin, Charco Press, 2017) was followed by La Isla de la Luna (2012) (Island of the Moon), and Romance de la negra rubia (2014) (Romance of the Black Blonde) as well as two collections of short stories: Sacrificios (2015) (Sacrifices) and Y su despojo fue una muchedumbre (2015) (Her Waste Became a Crowd). She is also co-author of The Happiest Kids in the World. ‘I’ve always had a penchant for child narrators too, they appeal to my own inner lost child. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, A Public Space and Zoetrope. A Stormy Petrel: The Life and Times of John Pope Hennessy, From Narnia to Harry Potter: The grown-up messages in children’s books, Poetry round up: New work from Julie O’Callaghan, Gerry Dawe and Vicki Feaver. It was recognised by the Buenos Aires City Council and the Congress of Buenos Aires Province for its social and cultural significance and its vital contribution in the fight against human trafficking. This year’s shortlist features titles translated from Spanish, German, Dutch, Farsi and Japanese and authors from six countries. Loss is also a central theme of Rijneveld’s The Discomfort of Evening, a story that recounts the breakdown of a devout family after the untimely death of one of their children. She lives in Japan. The strangeness of a child looking at the strangeness of the world.”. Her works include The Diving Pool, a collection of three novellas, The Housekeeper and the Professor, Hotel Iris and Revenge. Sign up to the Irish Times books newsletter for features, podcasts and more. Interested in learning more about the novel that won the Booker International last year? Melchor’s Hurricane Season opens with the gruesome discovery of a murder victim, but the novel’s narrative drive quickly shifts to asking, ‘Why?’ rather than ‘Who?’ and through the characters’ stories we are introduced to a world governed by poverty and violence, misogyny, and prejudice. Sign up to the Irish Times books newsletter for features, podcasts and more. Ross Benjamin was born in the US in 1981. Keep an eye on your inbox. Translator Michele Hutchison “found that the task of translating even so unflinching a book brought its own pleasures. Rijneveld has already won awards for both their first poetry collection Calfskin and The Discomfort of Evening, which won the prestigious ANV Debut Prize. To comment you must now be an Irish Times subscriber. Iona Macintyre was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1977. Michele Hutchison was born in the UK in 1972. Alongside their writing career, Rijneveld works on a dairy farm. Each shortlisted author and translator will receive £1,000, bringing the total value of the prize to £62,000. His works include Measuring the World, Me & Kaminski and Fame, and have won numerous prizes, including the Candide Prize, the Literature Prize of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Doderer Prize, The Kleist Prize, the WELT Literature Prize and the Thomas Mann Prize. But it hurts my family to write what I want to write. Fiona Mackintosh was born in Northampton in 1970.