Booker Prize: Refreshingly diverse longlist with plenty of new writers

Like all other creative industries, publishing has been hit hard by the worldwide pandemic

When she announced the 2020 Booker Prize longlist recently, the chair of the judging panel, Margaret Busby, noted that the selected books “represent a moment of cultural change”. And while one could be tempted to see her words as the sort of hyperbole that often accompanies these announcements, the selection of 13 novels (the “Booker dozen”) for 2020 is – in some ways – one of the more interesting and diverse we’ve seen in a long time.

Two key aspects of the list made for the most discussion for literary commentators and social media. First, the inclusion of