--- title: 2017 Man Booker Nominees Include Paul Auster and Ali Smith description: The 2017 Man Booker Prize shortlist was announced and the final six books are heavy on American authors and debut novelists. canonical: https://time.com/4939302/2017-man-booker-shortlist/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-13T15:18:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:24:14.797Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The 2017 Man Booker Shortlist Is Heavy on Americans and Debut Novelists og:description: George Saunders, Paul Auster and Emily Fridlund all made the list og:url: https://time.com/4939302/2017-man-booker-shortlist/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltecb2f3a245a4174f/6988dd8fcf40a81af0c495dd/booker.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: booker og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The 2017 Man Booker Shortlist Is Heavy on Americans and Debut Novelists twitter:description: George Saunders, Paul Auster and Emily Fridlund all made the list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltecb2f3a245a4174f/6988dd8fcf40a81af0c495dd/booker.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The 2017 Man Booker Shortlist Is Heavy on Americans and Debut Novelists by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Sep 13, 2017 3:18 PM UTC  Henry Holt and Co.; Atlantic Monthly Press; Riverhead; Random House; Pantheon; JM Originals by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Sep 13, 2017 3:18 PM UTC The 2017 [Man Booker Prize ](http://time.com/money/4702103/man-booker-international-prize-longlist-books/)shortlist was announced on Wednesday, and the final six books are heavy on American authors and debut novelists. Until 2014, the prize was only open to writers from the U.K. and Commonwealth, Ireland and Zimbabwe. It has since been opened up to any author writing in English and published in the U.K. Last year, [Paul Beatty](http://time.com/4545383/paul-beattys-the-sellout-wins-the-man-booker-prize/) became the first American novelist to win the award for _The Sellout._ This year’s list is half American — [Paul Auster](http://time.com/4649885/4321-paul-auster/), Emily Fridlund and [George Saunders ](http://time.com/4672999/george-saunders-debut-novel/)all made the cut — and, depending on how you count it, half of the nominees are debut novelists. Fridlund and Fiona Mozley were both recognized for their first books, and though Saunders already had a well-established career as a short story writer before publishing _Lincoln in the_ _Bardo_, it is technically his first full-length novel. Here is the complete list of finalists for the 2017 Man Booker Prize. The winner will be announced in a ceremony on Oct. 17. [_4321_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1627794468/?tag=timecom-20) by Paul Auster (US) [_History of Wolves_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0802125875/?tag=timecom-20) by Emily Fridlund (US) [_Exit West_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0735212171/?tag=timecom-20) by Mohsin Hamid (UK-Pakistan) [_Elmet_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1473660548/?tag=timecom-20) by Fiona Mozley (UK) [_Lincoln in the Bardo_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812995341/?tag=timecom-20) by George Saunders (US) [_Autumn_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1101870737/?tag=timecom-20) by Ali Smith (UK) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4939302/2017-man-booker-shortlist/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4939302/2017-man-booker-shortlist/"},"headline":"The 2017 Man Booker Shortlist Is Heavy on Americans and Debut Novelists","datePublished":"2017-09-13T15:18:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:24:14.797Z","description":"Until 2014, the prize was only open to writers from the U.K. and Commonwealth, Ireland and Zimbabwe","url":"https://time.com/4939302/2017-man-booker-shortlist/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltecb2f3a245a4174f/6988dd8fcf40a81af0c495dd/booker.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltecb2f3a245a4174f/6988dd8fcf40a81af0c495dd/booker.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"booker","caption":"","creditText":"Henry Holt and Co.; Atlantic Monthly Press; Riverhead; Random House; Pantheon; JM Originals","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4939302/2017-man-booker-shortlist/","name":"The 2017 Man Booker Shortlist Is Heavy on Americans and Debut Novelists"}}]}] ```