The New Academy asked Swedish librarians to nominate an author from anywhere in the world who has told the story of “humans in the world” – and the resulting longlist is surprisingly surprising. Yes, some of the perennial Nobel contenders are here, and deservedly so: Cormac McCarthy is nominated, as are Margaret Atwood, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Amos Oz and Haruki Murakami. But the librarians have also added some fresh faces to the usual suspects