Time Shelter, written by Georgi Gospodinov and translated by Angela Rodel, has won the 2023 International Booker Prize for Translated Fiction. The book introduces a ‘clinic for the past,' an institution which offers those suffering from Alzheimer’s an inspired treatment: each floor reproduces a past decade in minute detail. Time Shelter is the first book translated from Bulgarian to win the International Booker Prize.
Each year, the International Booker Prize is awarded to a book translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. It is intended to recognize and value world-class fiction on a global basis.
In 2005, the International Booker Prize was awarded for the first time still under the title of the "Man Booker International Prize". Early winners include Ismail Kadaré (2005), Chinua Achebe (2007), Alice Ann Munro (2009), Philip Milton Roth (2011), as well as Lydia Davis (2013) and László Krasznahorkai (2015). The aim of the prize is to encourage the reading of high quality fiction from around the world and also to appreciate the work of translators.
The prize is worth £50,000, which is shared equally between the author and the translator. Additionally, each shortlisted title receives £2,500.