As of 2014, any author who writes in English and is published in the UK will be eligible to win the Man Booker Prize, it was announced today. Critics are split over the decision.
Jim Crace, Melvyn Bragg and
Howard Jacobson
The Man Booker Prize
will next year be expanded across the whole English-speaking world, as
organisers console worried British authors that beating global competition will
be an "even greater accolade".
The prize, which has until now been open to novelists holding a British,
Irish, Commonweath or Zimbabwean passport, will now be open to any author
writing in English and published in the UK.
The change will mean American authors will be
considered for the first time, as the Man Booker board announces the £50,000
will be open to those "from Chicago, Sheffield or Shanghai".
The rules about submissions will also change, with publishing houses with
books on previous longlists being allowed more entries.
Announcing the "global expansion" today, organisers moved to reassure British
authors amid concerns they would suffer under the increased competition.
Ion Trewin, literary director of the Man Booker board, said early complaints
that British authors may struggle under the new rules were a "glass half-empty"
approach.
"Increased competition will be an even greater accolade," he said.
Jonathan Taylor, chairman of trustees, added the decision was "in keeping with what is an increasingly global, international publishing and reading world."
"We think these changes are going to encourage traditional and new publishers and bring more excellent, literary fiction to the attention of more readers around the world," he said.
Members of the board added it was a "big change", but said it should not be "frightening" for authors.
They confirmed they had been considering the move for "years", but moved seriously to consult with 40 – 50 writers, publishers and agents around 18 months ago.
They also strenuously denied the change was in response to invention of The Folio Prize, set up earlier this year to encompass all novels written in English, and insisted they had not been put under pressure by sponsors.
Baroness Kennedy, a trustee of the Booker Prize Foundation, said the new rules would make winning the prize "even more exciting and valuable".
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"Increased competition will be an even greater accolade," he said.
Jonathan Taylor, chairman of trustees, added the decision was "in keeping with what is an increasingly global, international publishing and reading world."
"We think these changes are going to encourage traditional and new publishers and bring more excellent, literary fiction to the attention of more readers around the world," he said.
Members of the board added it was a "big change", but said it should not be "frightening" for authors.
They confirmed they had been considering the move for "years", but moved seriously to consult with 40 – 50 writers, publishers and agents around 18 months ago.
They also strenuously denied the change was in response to invention of The Folio Prize, set up earlier this year to encompass all novels written in English, and insisted they had not been put under pressure by sponsors.
Baroness Kennedy, a trustee of the Booker Prize Foundation, said the new rules would make winning the prize "even more exciting and valuable".
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