The Man Booker Prize

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Buy 'Buy the 'Booker of Bookers': Midnight's Children (1981) by Salman Rushdie' Buy the 'Booker of Bookers': Midnight's Children (1981) by Salman Rushdie.

This, his second novel, was awarded the 'Booker of Bookers' prize in 1993 (on the 25th anniversary of the Booker), as the best of the previous winners, and again in 2008 (the Booker Prize 40th anniversary award).
It had initially won the 1981 Booker prize.

A human, often humorous story, and sometimes politically astute novel of people before and after the 1947 political division and partitioning of India and the 1965 India-Pakistan war and the 1971 war for Bangladesh independence.

Index:

Winners of Man Booker Prize

We also list (alphabetically by first name), the nominees on the short list for each year.

Who will win the next Man Booker prize? Some place bets with Graham Sharpe, 'the Man Booker Bookie' in the William Hill Organisation.

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2016: Coming

Book log continued at Rattlebrain edu

2015: Won by Marlon James for A brief history of seven killings

Blurb Summary: On December 3, 1976, gunmen stormed Bob Marley's house, machine guns blazing, nearly killing all inside. Marley left the country three days later, not to return for two years. Deftly spanning decades and continents and peopled with a wide range of characters assassins, journalists, drug dealers, and even ghosts, this is the fictional exploration of that dangerous and unstable time and its bloody aftermath, from Kingston in the '70s, to a radically altered Jamaica in the 1990s.

[Poor Poor] A brief history of seven killings is too vulgar for me. I abandoned it after reading the first 5% and the last 5%.

Other Short-list Nominees:

2014: Won by Richard Flanagan for The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Sadly, the prize is now open to the USA. Here is the short-list with "two women and four men ... three Brits (one Indian-born), two US authors and one Australian". From the candidate books, 6 were chosen by the judges for the 2014 Man Booker Prize for Fiction short list:

2013: won by Eleanor Catton for The Luminaries

Eleanor Catton was not previously listed.

Short-listed Nominees: 


23 July 2013. From 151 candidate books, 13 were chosen by the judges 
for the 2013 Man Booker Prize for Fiction long list:

-----------------------  LONG LIST  ------------------------------
   Author                       Title

Aw, Tash                Five Star Billionaire
[ok but a bit of a slog in parts.] Bulawayo, NoViolet We Need New Names: a novel
[ok but a bit of a slog in parts.] Catton, Eleanor    The Luminaries: a novel 
Good Crace, Jim           Harvest
Harris, Eve             The Marrying of Chani Kaufman
House, Richard          The Kills
Good Lahiri, Jhumpa       The Lowland
MacLeod, Alison         Unexploded 
McCann, Colum           TransAtlantic
Mendelson, Charlotte    Almost English
[Good] Ozeki, Ruth        A Tale for the Time Being
Ryan, Donal             The Spinning Heart 
[ok but not great] Tóibín, Colm  The Testament of Mary

2012: won by Hilary Mantel for Bring up the Bodies

Mantel won in 2009 for Wolf Hall and additionally was long-listed one other time previously.

Short-listed Nominees:

2011: won by Julian Barnes for The Sense Of An Ending

Julian Barnes was short-listed thrice in previous years:

Short-listed Nominees:

2010: won by Howard Jacobson for The Finkler Question

Howard Jacobson was been longlisted twice (but not shortlisted) in previous years:

Short-listed Nominees: 


27 July, 2010. From 138 candidate books, 13 were chosen by the judges 
for the long list for the 2010 Man Booker Prize for Fiction:

-----------------------  LONG LIST  ------------------------------
   Author                       Title

[ok but a bit of a slog in parts.] Carey, Peter        Parrot and Olivier in America
Donoghue, Emma           Room
Dunmore, Helen           The Betrayal
Galgut, Damon            In a Strange Room
[ok but a bit of a slog in parts.] Jacobson, Howard    The Finkler Question
Levy, Andrea             The Long Song
[ok but a bit of a slog in parts.] McCarthy, Tom       C
Loved it Loved it Mitchell, David    The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Moore, Lisa              February
Murray, Paul             Skippy Dies
Tremain, Rose            Trespass
Tsiolkas, Christos       The Slap
Warner, Alan             The Stars in the Bright Sky

2009: won by Hilary Mantel for Wolf Hall

Short-listed Nominees:

2008: won by Aravind Adiga for The White Tiger

Short-listed Nominees: 


The long list for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction is:
-----------------------  LONG LIST  ------------------------------
   Author                       Title

Good Adiga, Aravind        The White Tiger.
Arnold, Gaynor           Girl in a Blue Dress
Barry, Sebastian         The Secret Scripture
TerrificTerrific Berger, John         From A to X.
de Kretser, Michelle     The Lost Dog
Poor Ghosh, Amitav         Sea of Poppies.
Grant, Linda             The Clothes on Their Backs
Hanif, Mohammed          A Case of Exploding Mangoes
Hensher, Philip          The Northern Clemency
Good O'Neill, Joseph       Netherland.
Rushdie, Salman          The Enchantress of Florence
Smith, Tom Rob           Child 44
Toltz, Steve             A Fraction of the Whole

2007: won by Anne Enright for The Gathering

Short-listed Nominees: 


The long list for the 2007 Man Booker Prize for Fiction is:
-----------------------  LONG LIST  ------------------------------
   Author                     Title                   (Publisher) 

Poor Barker, Nicola        Darkmans                     (4th Estate)
   [Barker also in 2004 long list]
Docx, Edward             Self Help                    (Picador)
Loved itLoved it Eng, Tan Twan       The Gift Of Rain             (Myrmidon)
[Not good enough] Enright, Anne       The Gathering                (Jonathan Cape)
Good Hamid, Mohsin         The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Hamish Hamilton) 
Davies, Peter Ho         The Welsh Girl               (Sceptre)
Jones, Lloyd             Mister Pip                   (John Murray)
Lalwani, Nikita          Gifted                       (Viking) 
Good McEwan, Ian           On Chesil Beach              (Jonathan Cape)
O'Flynn, Catherine       What Was Lost                (Tindal Street)
Redhill, Michael         Consolation                  (William Heinemann)
Sinha, Indra             Animal's People              (Simon & Schuster)
Wilson, A.N.             Winnie & Wolf                (Hutchinson)

2006: won by Kiran Desai for The Inheritance of Loss

Short-listed Nominees: 


The long list for the 2006 Man Booker Prize for Fiction is:
-----------------------  LONG LIST  ------------------------------
Author                   Title                           Publisher 

Good Carey, Peter          Theft: A Love Story             (Faber & Faber) 
Good Desai, Kiran          The Inheritance of Loss         (Hamish Hamilton) 
Edric, Robert            Gathering the Water             (Doubleday) 
Gordimer, Nadine         Get a Life                      (Bloomsbury) 
Grenville, Kate          The Secret River                (Canongate) 
[Weak.] Hyland, M.J.     Carry Me Down                   (Canongate) 
Jacobson, Howard         Kalooki Nights                  (Jonathan Cape) 
Lasdun, James            Seven Lies                      (Jonathan Cape) 
Lawson, Mary             The Other Side of the Bridge    (Chatto & Windus) 
McGregor, Jon            So Many Ways to Begin           (Bloomsbury) 
Matar, Hisham            In the Country of Men           (Viking) 
Messud, Claire           The Emperor's Children          (Picador) 
Mitchell, David          Black Swan Green                (Sceptre) 
Murr, Naeem              The Perfect Man                 (William Heinemann) 
O'Hagan, Andrew          Be Near Me                      (Faber & Faber) 
Robertson, James         The Testament of Gideon Mack    (Hamish Hamilton) 
St Aubyn, Edward         Mother's Milk                   (Picador) 
Unsworth, Barry          The Ruby in her Navel           (Hamish Hamilton) 
Good Waters, Sarah         The Night Watch                 (Virago)

2005 - John Banville, The Sea

Short-listed Nominees: 


The long list for the 2005 Man Booker Prize for Fiction is:
-----------------------  LONG LIST  ------------------------------
Author                   Title                           Publisher 

Aw, Tash                 The Harmony Silk Factory        Fourth Estate 
Good Banville, John        The Sea.                         Picador
Loved itLoved it Barnes, Julian      Arthur & George                 Jonathan Cape 
Barry, Sebastian         A Long Long Way                 Faber & Faber 
Coetzee, J.M.            Slow Man                        Secker & Warburg 
Cusk, Rachel             In the Fold                     Faber & Faber 
Loved itLoved it Ishiguro, Kazuo      Never Let Me Go                 Faber & Faber 
Jacobson, Dan            All For Love                    Hamish Hamilton 
Lewycka, Marina          A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainia   Viking 
Loved it[Loved it] Mantel, Hilary     Beyond Black                    Fourth Estate 
Poor McEwan, Ian           Saturday                        Jonathan Cape 
Meek, James              The People's Act of Love        Canongate 
Rushdie, Salman          Shalimar The Clown              Jonathan Cape 
Poor Smith, Ali            The Accidental                  Hamish Hamilton 
Good Smith, Zadie          On Beauty                       Hamish Hamilton 
Thompson, Harry          This Thing Of Darkness          Headline Review
Wall, William            This Is The Country             Sceptre

2004 - Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty

Short-listed Nominees: 


-----------------------  LONG LIST  ------------------------------
Author                   Title                           Publisher 

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Purple Hibiscus                 4th Estate 
Nadeem Aslam             Maps for Lost Lovers            Faber & Faber 
Nicola Barker            Clear: A Transparent Novel      4th Estate 
	  [It's the best title though the contents sounds more like journalism:
	  "about David Blaine's feat of endurance in his glass box over the Thames"]
John Bemrose             The Island Walkers              John Murray 
Ronan Bennett            Havoc, in its Third Year        Bloomsbury 
Susanna Clarke           Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell   Bloomsbury 
Neil Cross               Always the Sun                  Scribner 
Achmat Dangor            Bitter Fruit                    Atlantic Books 
Louise Dean              Becoming Strangers              Scribner 
Lewis Desoto             A Blade of Grass                Maia Press 
Pretty Good Sarah Hall            The Electric Michelangelo       Faber & Faber 
James Hamilton Paterson  Cooking with Fernet Branca      Faber & Faber 
Justin Haythe            The Honeymoon                   Picador 
Pretty Good Shirley Hazzard       The Great Fire                  Virago 
Poor Alan Hollinghurst     The Line of Beauty.             Picador 
   [Hollinghurst also in 1994]
Gail Jones               Sixty Lights                    Harvill Press 
Pretty Good David Mitchell        Cloud Atlas                     Sceptre 
   [Mitchell also in 2001]
Sam North                The Unnumbered                  Scribner 
Nicholas Shakespeare     Snowleg                         Harvill Press 
Matt Thorne              Cherry                          Weidenfeld & Nicolson 
Loved itLoved it Colm Toíbín           The Master                      Picador 
   [Toíbín also in 1999]
Gerard Woodward          I'll go to Bed at Noon          Chatto & Windus

2003 - D.B.C. Pierre, Vernon God Little

Short-listed Nominees:

2002 - Yann Martel, Life of Pi

Short-listed Nominees:

2001 - Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang

Short-listed Nominees:

2000 - Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin

Short-listed Nominees:

1999 - J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace

Short-listed Nominees:

1998 - Ian McEwan, Amsterdam

Short-listed Nominees:

1997 - Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things

Short-listed Nominees:

1996 - Graham Swift, Last Orders

Short-listed Nominees:

1995 - Pat Barker, The Ghost Road

Short-listed Nominees:

1994 - James Kelman, How Late It Was, How Late

Short-listed Nominees:

1993 - Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

Short-listed Nominees:

1992 - Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient
and Barry Unsworth, Sacred Hunger

Short-listed Nominees:

1991 - Ben Okri, The Famished Road

Short-listed Nominees:

1990 - A S Byatt, Possession

Short-listed Nominees:

1989 - Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day

Short-listed Nominees:

1988 - Peter Carey, Oscar and Lucinda

Short-listed Nominees:

1987 - Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger

Short-listed Nominees:

1986 - Kingsley Amis, The Old Devils

Short-listed Nominees:

1985 - Keri Hulme, The Bone People

Short-listed Nominees:

1984 - Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac

Short-listed Nominees:

1983 - J.M. Coetzee, Life & Times of Michael K

Short-listed Nominees:

1982 - Thomas Keneally, Schindler's Ark

Short-listed Nominees:

1981 - Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children

Short-listed Nominees:

1980 - William Golding, Rites of Passage

Short-listed Nominees:

1979 - Penelope Fitzgerald, Offshore

Short-listed Nominees:

1978 - Iris Murdoch, The Sea, the Sea

Short-listed Nominees:

1977 - Paul Scott, Staying On

Short-listed Nominees:

1976 - David Storey, Saville

Short-listed Nominees:

1975 - Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Heat and Dust

Short-listed Nominees:

1974 - Nadine Gordimer, The Conservationist
and Stanley Middleton, Holiday

Short-listed Nominees:

1973 - J.G. Farrell, The Siege of Krishnapur

Short-listed Nominees:

1972 - John Berger, G

Short-listed Nominees:

1971 - V.S. Naipaul, In a Free State

Short-listed Nominees:

1970 - Bernice Rubens, The Elected Member

Short-listed Nominees:

1969 - P.H. Newby, Something to Answer For

Short-listed Nominees:

The Lost Man Booker Prize:
books published in 1970 but ineligible for prior Booker Prizes

Lost Man Booker Prize (2010 for 1970) - J.G. Farrell, Troubles

In 1971, two years after the Booker Prize began, the Prize rules changed. As a result, half of the novels published in 1970 were never eligible for the Booker.

This 2010 project (The Lost Man Booker Prize) corrects this problem retrospectively:

Short-listed Nominees:

Process of Man Booker Prize Selection

Originally established in 1968 as the Booker McConnell Prize, and today known as the Man Booker Prize, it rewards the author of the winning book, which must be (at least in 2004):

The Man Booker judges are selected from the critics, writers, and academicians to maintain the excellent quality of the selected winners. These judges may also include politician and other professions.

The winner:

The process (quotes below from http://www.bookerprize.co.uk/aboutprize/howworks.html, on 22 August 2004) has:

Who will win the next Man Booker Prize?

Some place bets with Graham Sharpe, 'the Man Booker Bookie' in the William Hill Organisation. The following quotes are from his modest article (in 2004) at http://www.bookerprize.co.uk/2004prize/bookerbookie.html (snapshot taken on 23 Aug 2004).

"I am unlikely ever to be invited to become a Man Booker Prize Judge - but that does not stop me having pretty firm ideas about what does and doesn't constitute a potential or worthy winner. ... [I have] probably read more of the shortlisted novels over the past twenty years than almost anyone else outside of the award's inner-circle...

I am frequently asked by the media whether I have read the books when I issue the odds for the latest prize.
These days the invariable answer ... is 'no'.
Were I to read all the long listed books before they are announced I would have to be on the judging panel - or have sacrificed a great deal of valuable free time...

I like the quirky nature of the prize and understand its massive influence on the buying habits of the great British public, even though I would imagine that a large proportion of Man Booker sales are to people buying the books as ultimately un-read Birthday or Christmas presents...

I am often asked why I have never written a novel but my training [as a journalist]
means that I would have compressed the story to the essential who, what, where, how and why and finished it off within a chapter ...

However, I suppose I could always have a stab at it and would probably be prepared to do so for a low six-figure, two book deal so, if you're a publisher looking for a bright new talent whose name might carry a little weight with the Man Booker Prize judging panel, just give me a shout.... "

Graham Sharpe

Loved it

In August 2004, I find that without trying I have read a couple of dozen Booker winners or nominees, and have usually admired them, and have often been amazed by them.

Most of the books that I read are:
(a) recommended by friends,
(b) mentioned with positive or negative passion in something I read, or
(c) written by an author whose other work I have admired.

I marked with a star each of the Bookers that I liked, and with more than one star if I loved it. Approximate ratings (your kilometerage may vary):

Sponsor of Man Booker Prize

Booker McConnell, a multinational conglomerate established the Booker McConnell Prize in 1968.

As of 2004, the prize is called the Man Booker Prize. My thanks to its major sponsor, the Man Group, which James Man established as a broker business over two centuries ago.

Today, the Man Group a large and international futures broker and a global provider of alternative investment products. Unfortunately, it is ambitious to expand not only its own business but also the Booker Prize to the USA.

Should citizens of the USA be eligible for the Booker Prize?

Should a USA citizen be eligible to be poet laureate of Great Britain? I think not. That includes ruling out dual citizens.

The USA has more than enough lucrative rewards for its authors, compared to the impoverished Brits.

To the citizens of the USA who complain that the Booker Prize is unfair to them (perhaps because they have imperialist or Oedipal envy), I have two words: "Grow up".

Let's leave the Booker alone.

However, the USA lobby has won — the trustees of the Booker Prize Foundation have ignored me! On 18 September 2013 they announced:

the Man Booker Prize is to expand eligibility for entry for future prizes to include novels originally written in English and published in the UK, regardless of the nationality of their author. This change will come into effect for the 2014 prize.

The Man Booker Prize trustees are confident that their decisions are in keeping with the increasingly international nature of publishing and reading and believe that these changes will encourage traditional and new publishers alike, and bring yet more excellent literary fiction to the attention of readers around the world.

In 2005, the first Man Booker International Prize was awarded to Albanian Ismail Kadaré. That International Prize did not defuse the lobby for the above change to the selection process for the original Booker Prize.

Nontheless, this comment from USA-born citizen L.D., book lover and library volunteer: 

i thought it was so cool when i was in london two years ago, 
the week before the winner was announced, that every bookstore,
even the airport bookstore! had tables full of the short list books.  
you don't see that around here with the pulitzer or national book award 
during the run-up to their prize announcements.

... OK, continuing my "americans are heathens" theme, can you IMAGINE the 
national book awards being broadcast on NBC ... or perhaps FOX ?????

[Social Commentator and Critic, L.D.]

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