THE MAN BOOKER
INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2009

NOTE: The Man Booker International Prize differs from the annual Man Booker Prize for Fiction in that it highlights one writer’s continued creativity, development and overall contribution to fiction on the world stage. Both prizes strive to recognise and reward the finest fiction.

Judges’ List Announced

http://www.themanbookerprize.com/

14 authors have made it on to the Judges’ List of Contenders for the third Man Booker International Prize. The writers come from 12 countries and seven are writers in translation.

The Judges’ List was announced by the chair of judges, Jane Smiley, at a press conference held at The New York Public Library, today (Wednesday 18 March 2009).
The 14 authors on the list are:

Peter Carey (Australia)

Evan S. Connell (USA)

Mahasweta Devi (Bangladesh)

E.L. Doctorow (USA)

James Kelman (UK)

Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)

Arnošt Lustig (Czechoslovakia)

Alice Munro (Canada)

V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad/India)

Joyce Carol Oates (USA)

Antonio Tabucchi (Italy)

Ngugi Wa Thiong’O (Kenya)

Dubravka Ugresic (Croatia)

Ludmila Ulitskaya (Russia)

The judging panel for the Man Booker International Prize 2009 is: Jane Smiley, writer; Amit Chaudhuri, writer, academic and musician; and writer, film script writer and essayist, Andrey Kurkov.
In announcing their list, Jane Smiley comments:
“Judging the Man Booker International Prize has made us all aware of how unusual and astonishing the literary world really is. We’ve all read books by authors we had never heard of before and they have turned out to be some of the best books we’ve ever read. I am thrilled with the list we have come up with. It makes me wonder who else is out there untranslated into English.
“Some of the best writers in the world have come together on this judges’ list regardless of celebrity or commercial success. For us it’s been a rare combination of education and delight.”

The Man Booker International Prize was announced in June 2004 and recognises one writer for his or her achievement in fiction. Worth £60,000 to the winner, the prize is awarded once every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language. In addition, there is a separate prize for translation and, if applicable, the winner can choose a translator of his or her work into English to receive a prize of £15,000.

The winner is chosen solely at the discretion of the judging panel; there are no submissions from publishers. Nigerian writer, Chinua Achebe, won the 2007 prize and Albanian writer, Ismail Kadaré, won the inaugural prize in 2005 and went on to gain worldwide recognition for his work.

The prize is sponsored by Man Group plc, which also sponsors The Man Booker Prize for Fiction.