Booker Prize

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction

• It is the most important literary award in Britain.
• It has been awarded since 1969 by the Booker Prize Foundation which is mainly sponsored by The Man Group, a leading global provider of alternative investment products and solutions.
• It is awarded each year for the best novel in the English language by an author who must be citizen of the UK, the Commonwealth, the Republic of Ireland or Zimbabwe, and who receives £50.000. Books must be a unified and substantial work, neither a book of short stories nor a novella is eligible.
• The award ceremony is broadcasted live on television.
• For it is very prestigious it is also a great promotion for the nominated novels, which guarantees an increase in book sales.
• The judging procedure for the Booker Prize is rather complicated in order to guarantee the fairness and quality of the award. The first step is the formation of an advisory committee which consists of two publishers, a literary agent, a bookseller, a librarian and a chairperson, appointed by the Booker Prize Foundation. The advisory committee selects a judging panel for the current year. The judges are selected from amongst leading literary critics, writers, academics and so called “notable public figures”. These judges chose their favorite of a pool of nominated novels.

• The longlist 2007 of 13 books, "The Man Booker Dozen" was chosen from 110 entries.

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2007

Winner

• Anne Enright, The Gathering (2007) by Jonathan Cape

Shortlist

• Nicola Barker, Darkmans (2007) by Fourth Estate
• Ian McEwan, On Chesil Beach (2007) Jonathan Cape
• Indra Sinha, Animal's People (2007) by Simon & Schuster
• Lloyd Jones, Mister Pip (2006) by John Murray
• Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) by Hamish Hamilton

Longlist

• Edward Docx, Self Help (2007) by Picador
• Tan Twan Eng, The Gift of Rain (2007) by Myrmidon
• Peter Ho Davies, The Welsh Girl (2007) by Sceptre
• Nikita Lalwani, Gifted (2007) by Viking
• Catherine O'Flynn, What Was Lost (2007) by Tindal Street
• Michael Redhill, Consolation (2007) by William Heinemann
• A.N. Wilson, Winnie & Wolf (2007) by Hutchinson

Judges

• Howard Davies-Chair, former director of the Financial Services Authority, director of the LSE
• Wendy Cope, poet
• Giles Foden, novelist and former deputy editor of the Guardian Saturday Review
• Ruth Scurr, critic and academic
• Imogen Stubbs, actor and writer

Main points of debate

• Large amount of newcomers on the longlist vs. missing stars. New generation?
• Discussion whether McEwan's On Chesil Beach is a novel or a novella
• Lloyd Jones's Mister Pip attracts the biggest sales and remains a favourite for quite some time. Nevertheless, Katie Price's biography beats all bookers in sales.
• Anne Enright discussed as the conservative choice

The Booker International Prize

• The Booker International Prize was introduced in 2005 and is to be awarded every two years hence.
• It is accessible to authors of any nationality for their complete works which must have been translated and published in English. The winner receives £60.000.

• Winners were:

• 2005: Ismail Kadare (Alb.)
• 2007: Chinua Achebe (Nig.)

Links

• Wikipedia.org: The Booker Prize
• The Man Booker Prize Homepage
• The Booker International Prize

Contact

Agata Muni, Carsten Richter 19:34, 6 December 2007 (CET), Katrin Ischebeck 20:52, 6 December 2007 (CET)