… and here they are:

  • Beatlebone by Kevin Barry (Canongate)
  • Acts of Assassins by Richard Beard (Harvill Secker)
  • Satin Island by Tom McCarthy (Cape)
  • The Field of the Cloth of Gold by Magnus Mills (Bloomsbury)
  • Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter
  • Lurid & Cute by Adam Thirlwell (Cape)

The Goldsmith Prize was established in 2013 with the intent of promoting and celebrating fiction that’s cutting edge and innovative.  Last year the winner was Ali Smith’s brilliant novel How To Be Both.

What strikes me immediately about this shortlist is the distinct lack of diversity, especially when compared to this year’s Man Booker nominees (of which Satin Island also appeared).  As an example, last year the nominees included two women, this year all the nominees are male and white (from what I can tell).  Of course, without having read the field as widely as the judges I can’t say with any confidence whether this list of finalists reflects the authors that wrote daring fiction in 2015.  Still, in terms of representation it is, on the face of it, very disappointing.

I haven’t read any of the novels – though the McCarthy is obviously on my to read pile.  From a quick skim there looks to be some exciting work here (I note that the Barry isn’t released until the end of the month).  Expect to see reviews of each of the nominees by mid October.