LONDON: Novels by women writers about a family exiled from Iran, a suburban French witch, and an Albanian sworn virgin have made the shortlist for the International Booker Prize, organizers announced Tuesday. The prestigious award, to be handed out at a ceremony at London&#39;s Tate Modern gallery on May 19, recognizes works of fiction from around the world that have been translated into English. The &pound;50,000 ($62,000) prize is split equally between the author and the translator. This is the tenth year that the prize has been awarded in its current form. Organizers say the award gives the authors a significant boost in profile and sales. Four winners have gone on to become Nobel laureates. The books on this year&#39;s list feature &quot;unforgettable characters&quot; and &quot;reverberate with history&quot;, said the chair of the judges, British novelist Natasha Brown. The shortlist includes several established authors. &quot;The Director&quot;, set in the Nazi-controlled film industry, is by bestselling German-Austrian writer Daniel Kehlmann, who is known for darkly funny historical novels and is the only male author on the list. Another prominent figure is French novelist and playwright Marie NDiaye, winner of the country&#39;s top Goncourt prize, whose books have been widely translated. Her novel &quot;The Witch&quot; is about a woman living in the suburbs in the 1990s who passes magical powers on to her daughters. Brazilian Ana Paula Maia is author of seven novels and has been selected for &quot;On Earth As It Is Beneath&quot;, a horrifying tale of a brutal prison colony in a remote wilderness. The shortlist also features two debut novels. &quot;The Nights Are Quiet In Tehran&quot;, a saga by German writer Shida Bazyar, is about a family fleeing Iran and then returning decades later. The other is &quot;She Who Remains&quot; by award-winning Bulgarian poet and writer Rene Karabash, about a woman who opts to become a &quot;sworn virgin&quot; &ndash; a vanishing Albanian tradition under which a woman renounces marriage and lives as a man.

Women authors dominate the International Booker Prize shortlist with novels about an exiled Iranian family, a French suburban witch and an Albanian sworn virgin. (The Brooker Prizes)

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The International Booker Prize shortlist features novels by women authors, including stories of an exiled Iranian family, a French witch, and an Albanian sworn virgin, all translated into English for international readers.

Exile, witchcraft, virginity: Women authors dominate International Booker shortlist

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ISLAMABAD: The&nbsp;Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on Tuesday said that the <span style="color: rgb(31, 31, 31); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; float: none; display: inline !important;" id="isPasted">Doomsday Clock was now&nbsp;85 seconds to midnight, stating that the world was <span style="color: rgb(33, 37, 41); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; float: none; display: inline !important;" id="isPasted"><a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/climate-and-disasterdriven-displacement-are-reshaping-global-migration" style="color:#0073e6;">perilously</a><span style="color: rgb(33, 37, 41); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; float: none; display: inline !important;" id="isPasted"> close to global disaster and that any delay in reversing course increased the probability of catastrophe.&nbsp; The announcement streamed on the Bulletin&#39;s YouTube channel.&nbsp; The symbolic timepiece stood at 89 seconds to midnight, the most precarious moment in its 78-year history. The Science and Security Board moved it one second forward in 2025. What the clock represents The Doomsday Clock serves as a metaphor for humanity&#39;s proximity to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/misinformation-bigger-threat-than-nuclear-war-climate-change-pakistan-information-minister" target="_blank" style="font-size: 18px;" rel="noopener noreferrer">self-destruction</a>. Midnight represents total annihilation. The closer the time to midnight, the greater the assessed threat from man-made dangers. The clock tracks three primary threats: nuclear weapons, climate change, and disruptive technologies including artificial intelligence. Who decides? The Bulletin&#39;s Science and Security Board sets the time annually. The board comprises globally recognized experts in nuclear risk, climate science, and emerging technologies. They consult with the Board of Sponsors, which includes eight Nobel laureates. Manhattan Project scientists, including Albert Einstein and J Robert Oppenheimer, created the Bulletin in 1947. They built the atomic bomb but feared its implications. 2026 speakers <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-links-greenland-threats-to-nobel-peace-prize-snub-bloomberg" target="_blank" style="font-size: 18px;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nobel Peace Prize</a>&nbsp;laureate Maria Ressa will address the announcement. Ressa cofounded Rappler and teaches at Columbia University&#39;s School of International and Public Affairs. Alexandra Bell, president and CEO of the Bulletin, will speak alongside Science and Security Board chair Daniel Holz, a University of Chicago physics professor. Other speakers include Steve Fetter of the University of Maryland, climate scientist Inez Fung from UC Berkeley, biodefense expert Asha M. George from the Atlantic Council, and Jon B. Wolfsthal of the Federation of American Scientists. Threat assessment factors The 2026 setting considers multiple crisis areas. Nuclear risks include escalating rhetoric, expanded weapons investments, and ongoing conflicts like the Ukraine war. <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/experts-say-oceans-soaked-up-record-heat-levels-in-2025" target="_blank" style="font-size: 18px;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Climate</a>&nbsp;threats stem from continued governmental failures to prevent catastrophic warming at the required scale. Artificial intelligence poses growing dangers through battlefield deployment and social media manipulation. Biological threats from infectious diseases and weapons remain concerns. The Bulletin identified the 2026 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference as a critical moment for global arms control. Clock history The clock debuted on the Bulletin&#39;s June 1947 magazine cover. The board has reset it 26 times. It reached 100 seconds to midnight in 2020, dropped to 90 seconds in 2023, then to 89 seconds in 2025. The physical clock resides in the University of Chicago&#39;s Keller Center lobby, home to the Harris School of Public Policy. The Bulletin aims to motivate action, not spread fear. The clock functions as an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/thousands-of-glaciers-to-melt-each-year-by-midcentury-study" target="_blank" style="font-size: 18px;" rel="noopener noreferrer">early warning</a>&nbsp;system, urging citizens and leaders to address existential threats before time runs out.

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Scientists unveil the 2026 Doomsday Clock as global threats intensify, weighing nuclear risks, climate failure and artificial intelligence to gauge how close humanity stands to self-destruction worldwide this year, today.

Articles tagged with "Nobel laureates"

Exile, witchcraft, virginity: Women authors dominate International Booker shortlist

Doomsday Clock: World stands '85 seconds from annihilation'

Exile, witchcraft, virginity: Women authors dominate International Booker shortlist