Reading into the 2019 Man Booker International Prize longlist

This year’s longlist for the Man Booker International Prize includes only two entries from major publishing houses.

The other eleven come from smaller independent presses, which one judge told the Guardian shows that big publishers could be doing more — and that their smaller counterparts are the new talent scouts.

(But Fussy readers already knew that bigger, when it comes to names, doesn’t mean better ;) )

Here are the contenders for the £50,000 ($65,810) prize, which is split between the author and the translator. The shortlist comes out April 9, and the winner will be revealed May 21.

• Celestial Bodies, written by Jokha Alharthi (Oman) and translated from Arabic by Marilyn Booth.

• Love in the New Millennium, written by Can Xue (China) and translated by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen.

• The Years, written by Annie Ernaux (France) and translated by Alison Strayer.

• At Dusk, written by Hwang Sok-yong (South Korea) and translated by Sora Kim-Russell.

• Jokes for the Gunmen, written by Mazen Maarouf (Iceland and Palestine) and translated from Arabic by Jonathan Wright.

• Four Soldiers, written by Hubert Mingarelli (France) and translated from French by Sam Taylor.

• The Pine Islands, written by Marion Poschmann (Germany) and translated by Jen Calleja.

• Mouthful of Birds, written by Samanta Schweblin (Argentina and Italy) and translated from Spanish by Megan McDowell.

• The Faculty of Dreams, written by Sara Stridsberg (Sweden) and translated by Deborah Bragan-Turner.

• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, written by Olga Tokarczuk (Poland) and translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones.

• The Shape of the Ruins, written by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Colombia) and translated from Spanish by Anne McLean.

• The Death of Murat Idrissi, written by Tommy Wieringa (Netherlands) and translated by Sam Garrett.

• The Remainder, written by Alia Trabucco Zerán (Chile and Italy) and translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes.