"Time Shelter" by Georgi Gospodinov Makes International Booker Longlist

The novel Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov, translated into English by Angela Rodel (Liveright May, 2022), has been included in the International Booker prize 2023 longlist. This is the first time that a Bulgarian novel has been nominated for this prestigious award.

The International Book prize is awarded annually for a novel or short story collection written originally in any language, translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland. The £50,000 prize money is split equally between the author and translator of the winning book.

I reviewed Time Shelter for World Literature Today in its September 2022 edition, writing that "the underlying theme in Time Shelter is whether our memories of the past, real or imagined, can protect us from the temporal chaos outside our daily lives." I added, "In real life, memories may not shield us from that chaos, but in the imagination of Georgi Gospodinov, anything is possible."

I had previously reviewed Gospodinov's novel The Physics of Sorrow.

Georgi Gospodinov was born in Yambol, Bulgaria, and his works have been translated to acclaim in 25 languages. His novels have been shortlisted for more than a dozen international prizes.

Angela Rodel is a professional literary translator living and working in Bulgaria. She holds a B.A. from Yale and an M.A. from UCLA in linguistics. She received a 2014 NEA translation grant for The Physics of Sorrow (Open Letter 2015).

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Book Review: "Time Shelter" by Georgi Gospodinov

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