I’m shocked! This is quite a leap from the list I expected! The winner will be selected from this list on May 3.
- The Planets, by Sergio Chejfec; Argentina; tr. from the Spanish by Heather Cleary (Open Letter Books)
- Prehistoric Times, by Eric Chevillard; France; tr. from the French by Alyson Waters (Archipelago Books)
- The Colonel, by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi; Iran; tr. from the Persian by Tom Patterdale (Melville House)
- Satantango, by László Krasznahorkai; Hungary; tr. from the Hugarian by George Szirtes (New Directions)
- Autoportrait, by Edouard Levé; France; tr. from the French by Lorin Stein (Dalkey Archive Press)
- A Breath of Life, by Clarice Lispector; Brazil; tr. from the Portuguese by Johnny Lorenz (New Directions)
- The Hunger Angel, by Herta Müller; Romania; tr. from the German by Philip Boehm (Metropolitan Books)
- Maidenhair, by Mikhail Shishkin; Russia; tr. from the Russian by Marian Schwartz (Open Letter Books)
- Transit, by Abdourahman A. Waberi; Djibouti; tr. from the French by David Ball and Nicole Ball (Indiana University Press)
- My Father’s Book, by Urs Widmer; Switzerland; tr. from the German by Donal McLaughlin (Seagull Books)
No Dublinesque? No My Struggle? No Traveler of the Century? No Map and the Territory? Those were, I thought, certainties. But maybe that’s why they’re not there. They’re the books we’ve seen promoted all over the place. Still, I consider Dublinesque and My Struggle to be two of the most unique, strongest pieces of literature in some time. Not to cast a shadow on the finalists, several of which I have not read.

