Would Nigeria's Chigozie Obioma 'The Fishermen' make the list?

09:18 - 15 September 2015

Chigozie Obioma's 'The Fishermen'

The minutes are ticking away to the final revelation of this year’s Man Booker shortlist, would Nigeria's Chigozie Obioma 'The Fishermen' be on the list?

The minutes are ticking away to the final revelation of this year’s Man Booker shortlist, which will be announced in 2 or 3 hours. Would Nigeria's Chigozie Obioma 'The Fishermen' be on the list?

Nigerians have been debating whether Chigozie Obioma's 'The Fishermen' would make the Man Booker Prize shortlist. Since the Prize inception in 1969, only two Nigerian books have been shortlisted Anthills of the Savanah by Chinua Achebe and The Famished Road by Ben Okri.

At 29, Obioma is the youngest nominee on this year’s Man Booker Prize longlist.

Update: Nigerian Author finally makes the 2015 Man Booker Prize shortlist!

The Fishermen, set in the 1990s and tells the story of four middle-class brothers who go fishing and encounter a chilling prophecy. The Guardian U.K described it as " A promising debut that spins a simple, almost mythological conceit into a heartbreaking elegy to Nigeria’s lost promise"

However, as the race moves closer would The Fishermen make the cut? How much weight should one place on an assessment of the tastes of the jury? Will the Princeton-based academic Michael Wood, who chairs the jury, sway it towards the American authors on the list? Would the other four judges, Ellah Wakatama Allfrey, John Burnside, Sam Leith and Frances Osborne, shortlist Obioma’s book based on literary merit rather than meeting their African quota?

Read Chapter One of 'The Fishermen' the only Nigerian book selected for Man Booker prize long list

Here is The full longlist

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (Jamaica) Oneworld.

A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler (US) Chatto & Windus.