The Best of the Booker
· Shortlist announced
· Public to choose the winner
· Will Salman Rushdie hold poll position?
http://www.themanbookerprize.com/
The only vote that counts this summer is for The Best of the Booker. Pat Barker, Peter Carey, JM Coetzee, JG Farrell, Nadine Gordimer and Salman Rushdie are all in the running to win this one-off award, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Booker Prize.
As the shortlist is announced today, Monday 12 May, polling opens to the public to find the overall winner. Through online partnerships with national and international media, with libraries, reading groups and book retailers, millions of people across the globe have the opportunity of registering their votes for their favourite book from the shortlist.
The six shortlisted books, chosen from the list of 41 Booker Prize and Man Booker Prize winners, are:
Pat Barker’s The Ghost Road (1995, Viking; paperback Penguin)
Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda (1988, Faber & Faber; paperback Faber)
JM Coetzee’s Disgrace (1999, Secker & Warburg; paperback Vintage)
Nadine Gordimer’s The Conservationist (1974, Cape; paperback Bloomsbury)
JG Farrell’s The Siege of Krishnapur (1973, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, paperback Phoenix)
Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (1981, Cape; paperback Vintage)
The only time that a celebratory award has previously been created for ‘the Booker’ was in 1993 – the 25th anniversary - when Salman Rushdie won the Booker of Bookers with Midnight’s Children. Now 15 years on, William Hill has offered Rushdie 6/4 odds as the favourite to win again. Second favourite is Pat Barker at 3/1, followed by Peter Carey (4/1) and JM Coetzee at 5/1, Nadine Gordimer (8/1) and JG Farrell (10/1).
The six books span three decades – the earliest winner being JG Farrell in 1973, and the most recent, JM Coetzee in 1999. Winning The Best of the Booker could mean a hat-trick for either Coetzee or Peter Carey who are the only two writers to have won the Booker Prize twice.
The shortlist was selected by a panel of judges – the biographer, novelist and critic Victoria Glendinning, (Chair); writer and broadcaster Mariella Frostrup, and John Mullan, Professor of English at University College, London.
The overall winner of The Best of the Booker will be announced as part of the London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre on 10 July where the winner will be awarded a custom-made trophy.
Votes can be registered via the Man Booker Prize website – http://www.themanbookerprize.com/
· Shortlist announced
· Public to choose the winner
· Will Salman Rushdie hold poll position?
http://www.themanbookerprize.com/
The only vote that counts this summer is for The Best of the Booker. Pat Barker, Peter Carey, JM Coetzee, JG Farrell, Nadine Gordimer and Salman Rushdie are all in the running to win this one-off award, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Booker Prize.
As the shortlist is announced today, Monday 12 May, polling opens to the public to find the overall winner. Through online partnerships with national and international media, with libraries, reading groups and book retailers, millions of people across the globe have the opportunity of registering their votes for their favourite book from the shortlist.
The six shortlisted books, chosen from the list of 41 Booker Prize and Man Booker Prize winners, are:
Pat Barker’s The Ghost Road (1995, Viking; paperback Penguin)
Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda (1988, Faber & Faber; paperback Faber)
JM Coetzee’s Disgrace (1999, Secker & Warburg; paperback Vintage)
Nadine Gordimer’s The Conservationist (1974, Cape; paperback Bloomsbury)
JG Farrell’s The Siege of Krishnapur (1973, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, paperback Phoenix)
Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (1981, Cape; paperback Vintage)
The only time that a celebratory award has previously been created for ‘the Booker’ was in 1993 – the 25th anniversary - when Salman Rushdie won the Booker of Bookers with Midnight’s Children. Now 15 years on, William Hill has offered Rushdie 6/4 odds as the favourite to win again. Second favourite is Pat Barker at 3/1, followed by Peter Carey (4/1) and JM Coetzee at 5/1, Nadine Gordimer (8/1) and JG Farrell (10/1).
The six books span three decades – the earliest winner being JG Farrell in 1973, and the most recent, JM Coetzee in 1999. Winning The Best of the Booker could mean a hat-trick for either Coetzee or Peter Carey who are the only two writers to have won the Booker Prize twice.
The shortlist was selected by a panel of judges – the biographer, novelist and critic Victoria Glendinning, (Chair); writer and broadcaster Mariella Frostrup, and John Mullan, Professor of English at University College, London.
The overall winner of The Best of the Booker will be announced as part of the London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre on 10 July where the winner will be awarded a custom-made trophy.
Votes can be registered via the Man Booker Prize website – http://www.themanbookerprize.com/
Victoria Glendinning comments: 'It was a great experience, revisiting all the Booker and Man Booker Prize winners, and very tough arriving at the shortlist - but we really feel that the six novels we picked represent the best fiction-writing of the past 40 years and that each one of them will stand the test of time. As to which of the six is the most important, and the most enjoyable, the Best of Booker - that is up to the readers to decide.'
Other celebrations to mark the anniversary include an exhibition in the autumn at the V&A telling the visual story of the prize over its 40 years, and The Booker at the Movies, a season in June at the Institute of Contemporary Arts featuring films from Booker prize-winning books and authors. Also for the anniversary, The British Council is working towards the creation of an online collection of contemporary British literature. The Council is in negotiation with publishers to include former winners of the Booker Prize and Man Booker Prize as e-books for a pilot project.
Other celebrations to mark the anniversary include an exhibition in the autumn at the V&A telling the visual story of the prize over its 40 years, and The Booker at the Movies, a season in June at the Institute of Contemporary Arts featuring films from Booker prize-winning books and authors. Also for the anniversary, The British Council is working towards the creation of an online collection of contemporary British literature. The Council is in negotiation with publishers to include former winners of the Booker Prize and Man Booker Prize as e-books for a pilot project.
And here is The Times reporting on the subject.
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