HRH The Duchess of Cornwall to present this year’s Man Booker Prize

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall will attend the Man Booker Prize ceremony again this year, following her inaugural visit in 2013.

The Duchess will give a speech during the event, which takes place at London’s Guildhall on Tuesday 14 October, before presenting the shortlisted authors with designer bound editions of their books. She will speak alongside Jonathan Taylor, Chairman of the Booker Prize Foundation and Emmanuel Roman, Chief Executive of Man Group, the prize’s sponsor.

Later in the evening, Her Royal Highness will present the 2014 winner with their trophy once their name has been announced by 2014 Chair of judges, AC Grayling. Emmanuel Roman will present the winner with a cheque for £50,000.

The evening will be televised by the BBC, the prize’s broadcast partner, with live coverage via the BBC News Channel and a report on the News at Ten. The event will also be streamed live by BBC Arts online from 9.45pm.

This year’s shortlist of six authors is:

Joshua Ferris (US)                          To Rise Again at a Decent Hour (Viking)

Richard Flanagan (Australian)     The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Chatto & Windus)

Karen Joy Fowler (US)                   We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (Serpent's Tail)

Howard Jacobson (British)           J (Jonathan Cape)

Neel Mukherjee (British)              The Lives of Others (Chatto & Windus)

Ali Smith (British)                          How to be Both (Hamish Hamilton)

For the first time in its 46 year history, the £50,000 prize has been opened up to writers of any nationality, writing originally in English and published in the UK.  Previously, the prize was open only to authors from the UK & Commonwealth, Republic of Ireland and Zimbabwe.

Further information on the 2014 shortlist and judges can be found at www.themanbookerprize.org.