It's heeeere! The 13 novels longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize have been announced. A new video is up on my YouTube channel discussing all these books.

Some I'm thrilled to see and some are surprises. I predicted only 3 but I've read 6 of them and I'm eager to explore more of these novels!

The judges considered 169 submissions to arrive at this list. Amongst these authors are the youngest and oldest authors to ever be listed for the Booker. Leila Mottley just turned 20 last month and Alan Garner is 88. There are also 3 debuts.Amongst the authors are 6 Americans, 3 British, 2 Irish, 1 Zimbabwean and 1 Sri Lankan. It's a shame there aren't any Australian, New Zealand, Canadian or Indian authors represented.

I'm very excited “Glory” by NoViolet Bulawayo, “The Trees” by Percival Everett, “Small Things Like These” by Claire Keegan, “The Colony” by Audrey Magee & “Nightcrawling” by Leila Mottley listed. All inventive, moving and utterly enthralling stories. I'm going to say it now... while I love Elizabeth Strout's writing I don't think “Oh William!” is her best so I was quite shocked to see it listed but feel free to argue with me.

I'm most looking forward to reading “Booth” by Karen Joy Fowler, “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida” by Shehan Karunatilaka & “After Sappho” by Selby Wynn Schwartz but if I have time I'm hoping to get to all the titles I've not read yet.

It’s really difficult to see what books might be frontrunners to win this early on especially since I’ve not read all of them yet. But if I had to make a guess I think “Glory” or “Small Things Like These” have a strong chance of taking the crown.