Dua Lipa Among Stars Reading Int’l Booker Prize Hopefuls in Shorts From Sharon Horgan’s Merman

Georg Szalai
·3 min read
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Short films featuring the likes of Dua Lipa and Tobias Menzies (The Crown, Game of Thrones, Manhunt) reading extracts from the six books on the 2024 shortlist for the International Booker Prize for fiction translated into English will debut on Thursday, courtesy of Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s production company Merman.

The other performers are Eleanor Tomlinson (One Day, Poldark, The Outlaws), David Jonsson (Rye Lane, Industry), Anya Chalotra (The Witcher, Wanderlust), and Antonia Thomas (Still Up, Lovesick, The Good Doctor).

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The shortlist films are directed by Charlotte Hamblin, a screenwriter, actor and director known for her performances in Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife and Operation Mincemeat. They will be published on the Booker Prizes website and social channels at 9 a.m. London time/1 a.m. LA time on Thursday. A trailer for the films was just posted on YouTube.

“An avid reader and host of her own book club at her editorial platform Service95, Dua Lipa has collaborated with the Booker Prizes on two previous occasions,” organizers said. “In 2022, she delivered a keynote speech at the Booker Prize ceremony, in which she spoke passionately about her love of fiction and the authors who have inspired her; in 2023, she visited (the prison) Downview to see the Booker Prizes’ prisons initiative, Books Unlocked, in action.” Dua Lipa’s third album, Radical Optimism, will be released on May 3.

“As someone who grew up speaking two languages, I know how inspiring it can be to have access to stories about other worlds,” said the music star who grew up in Albania. “I’m fascinated by lives lived in other countries, whether it’s the imagined lives of the characters or the real lives of the authors. So translation is an art close to my heart – it makes that adventure possible for so many more of us. Translated fiction is a hand extended from one culture to another. It allows us to understand each other better, and to see the world in a new light.”

The International Booker Prize ceremony will be held at the Tate Modern in London on Tuesday, May 21.

The six books on the International Booker Prize 2024 shortlist represent six countries across three continents, with three books written by authors from Europe, two from South America, and one from Asia. The books – and the performers reading extracts from them in the short films – are: Not a River by Selva Almada, translated from Spanish – read by David Jonsson; Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated from German – read by Eleanor Tomlinson; The Details by Ia Genberg, translated from Swedish – read by Dua Lipa; Mater 2-10 by Hwang Sok-yong, translated from Korean – read by Tobias Menzies; What I’d Rather Not Think About by Jente Posthuma, translated from Dutch – read by Anya Chalotra; and Crooked Plow by Itamar Vieira Junior, translated from Portuguese – read by Antonia Thomas

“Over the three years we’ve worked with the exceptional team at Merman, the Booker shortlist films have become a huge hit, reaching over 20 million people on our social channels and taking the work of the world’s best writers to new audiences,” said Booker Prize Foundation CEO Gaby Wood. “It’s been gratifying to see how many of these highly engaged viewers say how excited they are to read the books as a result of watching the films.”

Previous short films on Booker Prizes shortlisted fiction featured performances from the likes of Sharon Horgan, Anna Friel, Alfred Enoch, Adjoa Andoh, Jarvis Cocker, David Harewood, Aisling Bea, and Bel Powley.

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