Aharon Applefeld
Photo: GPO
Aharon Applefeld up for Booker prize
Veteran Israeli novelist among 10 finalists for international literary award for achievement in fiction
Veteran award-winning Israeli novelist Aharon Applefeld is one of the 10 finalists for the fifth Man Booker International Prize announced Thursday.
The prize, which is awarded every two years, is the international equivalent of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, which was founded in England in 1964 and is considered one of the world's most important literary awards.
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The international prize is given to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language.
It aims to expose writers from different countries and nations to an additional audience of readers.
The prize causes fierce debate and occasional controversy. In 2011, British spy writer John Le Carre asked for his name to be removed from the shortlist - he said he eschewed awards - and one of the jurors resigned at the choice of Roth as winner.
Applefeld is nominated for the award alongside American writer Marilynne Robinson, Chinese writer Yan Lianke, American writer Lydia Davis, Russian writer Vladimir Sorokin, Pakistani writer Intizar Husain, French writer Marie NDiaye, Croatian-Canadian writer Josip Novakovich, Swedish writer Peter Stamm and Indian writer U R Ananthamurthy.
The announcement of this year's prize recipient will be made at a dinner at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on May 22. The winner of the £60,000 ($95,000) prize can choose a translator of their work to receive a £15,000 ($23,750) award of their own.
Aharon Applefeld was born in Bucovina, Romania in 1932. He has written more than 40 books, which mostly focus on his experiences as a child and teenager during World War II.
He immigrated to Israel in 1944 as part of the Youth Aliyah, and studied at the agricultural youth village in Nahalal. His literary work has won him many awards, including the Israel Prize for Literature.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
