Kiran Desai's 'The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny' makes it to Booker Prize longlist

New Delhi, Jul 29 (PTI) Author Kiran Desai has made it to the longlist for the Booker Prize with her latest novel "The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny", 19 years after she won the prestigious award for "The Inheritance of Loss".

The list, announced on Tuesday, features a selection of 13 long-form fiction by seven women and six men from nine countries, the Booker Prize Foundation announced.

"There are short novels and some very long ones. There are novels that experiment with form and others that do so less obviously. Some of them examine the past and others poke at our shaky present. They are all alive with great characters and narrative surprises. All, somehow, examine identity, individual or national, and all, I think, are gripping and excellent," Roddy Doyle, chair of judges, said in a statement.

Published by Hamish Hamilton, Desai's latest novel is a "thrilling, globe-spanning novel that mines questions of memory, language, identity and family".

According to the Booker Prize website, the novel follows the lives of Sonia and Sunny, two young people navigating the many forces that shape their lives: country, class, race, history, and the complicated bonds that link one generation to the next.

The list also includes "The South" by Tash Aw, "Love Forms" by Claire Adam, "Universality" by Natasha Brown, "One Boat" by Jonathan Buckley, "Flashlight" by Susan Choi, "Audition" by Katie Kitamura, "The Rest of Our Lives" by Ben Markovits, "The Land in Winter" by Andrew Miller, "Endling" by Maria Reva, "Flesh" by David Szalay, "Seascraper" by Benjamin Wood, and "Misinterpretation" by Ledia Xhoga.

"Oh wow! Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is longlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize 19 years after The Inheritance of Loss won. What a staggering return! (Out in September!)" Manasi Subramanian, editor-in-chief and vice-president at Penguin Random House India which overlooks Hamish Hamilton imprint, wrote on X.

At more than 650 pages, Desai's third novel is also the longest in the list, while the shortest is "Universality" by Natasha Brown at 156 pages.

For the first time, the shortlist of six books will be announced at a public event, to be held at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London on September 23.

The six shortlisted authors will each receive GBP 2,500 (approx Rs 2.90 lakh) and a specially bound edition of their book. The announcement of the winning book  will take place on November 10, 2025 in a ceremony at Old Billingsgate in London. The Booker Prize winner receives GBP 50,000 (approx Rs 58 lakh). PTI MAH BK MAH MAH MAH