Skip to content

The Fortune Men secures place on Booker Prize longlist

Nadifa Mohamed's latest novel in the running for top award
11th August 2021

    To be innocent is no guarantee of justice. So Mahmood Mattan begins to think, in Cardiff’s Tiger Bay in 1952. Mattan is many things: father, chancer, and sometimes petty thief; he is not, though, a murderer. The protagonist of Nadifa Mohamed’s latest novel, The Fortune Men, has been arrested and is put on trial for the brutal murder of a shopkeeper. If found guilty, he’ll be executed. Based on true events, Mohamed’s novel, set in the vibrant multicultural area of Tiger Bay abounding with Somali and West Indian sailors and Maltese businessmen, has caught the attention of this year’s Booker Prize judges, and has been longlisted for the award. If Mohamed, who also features in the latest WritersMosaic Guest edition, Commonworld, wins the prize, it’ll take pride of place on her mantelpiece with numerous honours for her previous novels, including a Betty Trask Prize and Somerset Maugham Award.

    https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/319/319514/the-fortune-men/9780241466940.html

    WritersMosaic monthly

    Get new writing in your inbox

    One email monthly, unsubscribe anytime

    From Fruity to Raffell

    A retreat of solitude, community and creative stimulation

    Jason Arday (9 May, 1985 – 14 August, 2026)

    WritersMosaic reflects on the life of Jason Arday

    Inside the WritersMosaic Literary Residency

    'The sea was crystal clear, the weather was perfect and my pink toenails shimmered beneath the transparent water'

    Shine Your Eye

    A no-holds-barred account of travels through West Africa

    The Immortalists

    What would you be willing to do to ensure eternity?  

    Driftwood

    A play carrying diasporic memory and political weight

    video

    Free Will

    Will Harris reads his poem, 'Free Will'. Directed by Matthew Thompson and commissioned by the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation.

    video

    Half Written Love Letter

    Selina Nwulu reads her poem, 'Half Written Love Letter'. Directed by Matthew Thompson and commissioned by the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation.

    Illuminating, in-depth conversations between writers.

    Listen to all episodes
    Spotify
    Apple Podcasts
    Amazon Music
    YouTube
    Other apps
    What we leave we carry, The series that tells the true-life stories of migration to the UK.

    The series that tells the true-life stories of migration to the UK.

    Listen to all episodes
    Spotify
    Apple Podcasts
    Amazon Music
    YouTube
    Other apps
    Fiction Prescriptions

    Bibliotherapy for the head and the heart

    Listen to all episodes
    Spotify
    Apple Podcasts
    YouTube
    Everyone has an elsewhere

    Nine writers explore the elusive emotional truth behind narratives and storytelling.

    Listen to all episodes
    Spotify
    Apple Podcasts
    YouTube
    Search