Alum Sarah Timmer Harvey ’18 has been shortlisted for the prestigious International Booker Prize for her translation of Dutch author Jente Posthuma's novel What I'd Rather Not Think About (Scribe, 2020). The International Booker Prize is renowned for its celebration of international literature translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland.
The narrator of What I'd Rather Not Think About is a twin whose brother has recently taken his own life. She looks back on their childhood and tells of their adult lives, detailing his failed attempts to find happiness through various relationships and the Bhagwan movement. Posthuma tells the story of a depressive brother, viewed from the perspective of the sister who both loves and resents her twin, struggles to understand him, and misses him terribly.
The International Booker Prize, which highlights the role of translators in the literary industry, offers a monetary award of £50,000, divided equally between the author and the translator. Each shortlisted title, including Harvey's, also receives a £5,000 award, again shared between the author and translator.
“Novels carry us to places where we might never set foot and connect us with new sensations and memories,” said Eleanor Wachtel, International Booker Prize 2024 Chair of Judges, in a statement. “Our shortlist, while implicitly optimistic, engages with current realities of racism and oppression, global violence, and ecological disaster.”
Apart from Wachtel, the panel of judges includes award-winning poet Natalie Diaz; Booker Prize-shortlisted novelist Romesh Gunesekera; visual artist William Kentridge; and writer, editor and translator Aaron Robertson.
The International Booker Prize 2024 ceremony will take place on Tuesday, May 21 in London.
