Shortlist of books for the National Book Prize announced

The National Book Council has announced the shortlist of books contending for the 2019 National Book Prize.

The long list was announced in April, afterwhich on 15 July the adjudication board presented the shortlist to the National Book Council, including a statement of justification for each entry that did not make the shortlist.

The council said the authors and publishers interested in reading the judges' statement are invited to get in touch with the NBC.

“Out of a total of 147 long-listed works, 55 have made the shortlist - 34 books in the adult categories and 21 for the Terramaxka Prize,” the council said.

It said that the works shortlisted under biographical and historiographical research were “almost equally distributed between the two modes”.

The council said the Terramaxka category for original works for children up to seven years was once again the one with the most shortlisted titles.

“The adjudication board will now be selecting the winners of the Book Prize in each separate category in both adult literature (National Book Prize) and children’s literature (Terramaxka Prize).”

The council said the winners of the Terramaxka prize will be announced on 5 November at the official opening of the Malta Book Festival 2019. The winners of the National Book Prize will then be announced at an award-giving ceremony that will be held at Auberge de Castille later this year.

Persons interested can find the shortlist on the National Book Council's website.