By Harry Idoro, Jnr.
Out of 138 books, 14 of which were called in by the judges, 13 were considered for the ‘Man Booker Dozen’ longlist. Adjudged as the leading literary award in the English speaking world, the 2010 Man Booker Prize for Fiction books, were announced by literary judges last week (Jul27).
The chair of the judges Andrew Motion comments that “the 13 exceptional novels were chosen for their intrinsic quality, without reference to the past work of their authors. Wide-ranging in their geography and their concern, they tell powerful stories which make the familiar strange and cover an enormous range of history and feeling. We feel confident that they will provoke and entertain.”
The longlist includes: Peter Carey’s Parrot and Olivier in America, Emma Donoghue’s Room, Helen Dunmore’s The Betrayal, Damon Galgut’s In a Strange Room, Howard Jacobson’s The Finkler Question and Andrea Levy’s The Long Song, Tom McCarthy’s C.
Others are: David Mitchell’s The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, Lisa Moore’s February, Paul Murray’s Skippy Dies, Rose Tremain’s Trespass, Christos Tsiolkas’s The Slap, and Alan Warner’s The Stars in the Bright Sky.
Peter Carey, one of those longlisted, is one of only two authors to have won the prize twice, in 1988 for Oscar and Lucinda and 2001 for True History of the Kelly Gang. In 1985 his book Illywhacker was shortlisted for the prize and Theft: A Love Story was longlisted in 2006.
Three authors have been shortlisted before: David Mitchell (twice shortlisted in 2001 for number9dream and in 2004 for Cloud Atlas), Damon Galgut (in 2003 for The Good Doctor) and Rose Tremain (shortlisted in 1989 for Restoration). She was also a judge for the Booker Prize in 1988 and 2000.
Howard Jacobson has been longlisted twice for his book Kalooki Nights in 2006 and in 2002 for Who’s Sorry Now?
The 2010 shortlist will be announced on September 7 at a press conference at Man Group’s London headquarters. The winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2010 will be revealed on October 12 at a dinner at London’s Guildhall and will be broadcast on the BBC 10 O’clock news.
The winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction will receive £50,000 and can look forward to greatly increased sales and worldwide recognition. Each of the six shortlisted authors, including the winner, will receive £2,500 and a designer bound edition of their shortlisted book.
Chaired by Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate, the 2010 judges are Rosie Blau, Literary Editor of the Financial Times; Deborah Bull, formerly a dancer, now Creative Director of the Royal Opera House as well as a writer and broadcaster; Tom Sutcliffe, journalist, broadcaster and author and Frances Wilson, biographer and critic.
Comments (0)
Show/Hide comments
