On Wednesday, the Long List of the Man Booker Prize was announced, marking the start of three months of speculation, drama, and bookish excitement. Though originally an award for British authors, this award is now given for the best book written in English, regardless of the nation of the author or publisher (though it is still judged and awarded in England). The short list will be announced in September, and the final winner will be announced in October. For those of you yet to become acquainted with this prize, here are five reasons to be excited about the Man Booker Prize:
1) It’s a book award! And book awards always mean that a list of fabulous books is to follow. The Man Booker Prize may tout that it is “the leading prize for high quality literary fiction written in English”, which, since 1969, has awarded prizes to the likes of Hilary Mantel, Salman Rushdie, and Eleanor Catton, but the truth of the matter is that the Man Booker Prize likes books for the same reason that we do: because these books are incredible, moving, surprising, thought-provoking, insightful, and fundamentally different.
2) It’s a big, dramatic deal. In September, this list gets whittled down, and the short-listed authors received a £2,500 cash award and a specially-bound copy of their work. The final winner gets a further £50,000. And sales of their book are all-but-guaranteed to rise dramatically. This is a huge social achievement for all the long-listed authors, and a huge boost for their work.
3) It’s a big deal outside of the book world, too. Once upon a time, I lived near a book-makers shop in London, and throughout the summer and early fall, they took bets on horses…and on books. The odds changed regularly, and as the short list was announced, there were people outside who were as excited about the books as any other competition out there. If you don’t believe me, here is the site to track odds against current authors.
4) This year is particularly awesome; out of the thirteen titles listed, seven were written by women. As we discussed a while back, considering that literary awards tend to overwhelming favor men, this is a pretty nifty fact–and a very hopeful trend. Additionally, there are seven countries represented, as well (this is the second year that the award has been open to English books published outside Britain and its Commonwealth). With stories from India, Ireland, Morocco, and the US, among others, and wide range of perspectives offered, this award really represents a huge range of experience and are sure to make the competition that much more interesting.
5) The NOBLE network has copies of (nearly) every book on this long-list for your reading pleasure (some have yet to be released in the US). Check them out below!
Hanya Yanagihara: A Little Life
Anne Tyler: A Spool of Blue Thread
Marlon James: A Brief History of Seven Killings
Chigozie Obioma: The Fishermen
Andrew O’Hagan: The Illuminations
Laila Lalami: The Moor’s Account
Sunjeev Sahota: The Year of the Runaways (Publication Date: March 1, 2016)
Bill Clegg: Did You Ever Have a Family (Awaiting US publication)
Anna Smaill: The Chimes (Awaiting US publication)