The Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize represents the very best of contemporary fiction. One of the world´s most famous literary prizes, it continues to be the ultimate accolade for every fiction writer.
It has the power to transform the fortunes of authors, and even publishers. The 2002 winner, The Life of Pi by Yann Martel, reached number one in the bestseller lists, and remained in the lists for several months afterwards. The book´s independent publisher, Canongate, was voted Publisher of the Year partly on the strength of winning the prize. "I feel ecstatic. I feel exhilarated... I am absolutely delighted, this is a writer´s dream to win such a prestigious prize." Yann Martel, 2002 winner.
The Man Booker Prize is sponsored by the Man Group.
About Man Group
Man Group plc is a leading global provider of alternative investment products and solutions as well as one of the world´s largest futures brokers. The Group employs over 1,900 people in 15 countries, with key centres in London, Pfäffikon (Switzerland), Chicago, New York, Paris, Singapore and Sydney. The Man Group was established over 200 years ago as a broking business founded by James Man and was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1994.
Website: bookerprize.co.uk
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- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (Sceptre) - an intricately structured book that weaves together six stories told by different narrators, had been considered the heavy favorite to win. The Man Booker, though, is notoriously unpredictable.
- The Master by Colm Tóibín (Picador) is a book about the novelist Henry James.
- I´ll go to Bed at Noon by Gerard Woodward (Chatto & Windus) is a book about a family wrecked by alcoholism.
Gay novel wins The Man Booker Prize 2004
Alan Hollinghurst´s novel, "The Line of Beauty," a tale of a young gay man dazzled by drugs, power and money in Margaret Thatcher´s London, won Britain´s most prestigious literary award Tuesday (19 Oct 2004). Mr. Hollinghurst, a 50-year-old British-born author, will enjoy instant celebrity and a windfall extending far beyond the £50,000 prize on offer. The accolade of Booker prize winner provides a huge boost to a book´s sales, with the last three winners each selling over half a million copies. Despite the proliferation of literary prizes, the Booker continues to offer authors the biggest shop window. The book, Hollinghurst´s fouth.
"The Line of Beauty" is set in the 1980s, an era shaped by Margaret Thatcher´s hard-driving, free-market ethos, tells the story of Nick Guest, a gay 20-year-old Oxford graduate who takes a room in the home of an ambitious Conservative politician and his wealthy family. As the novel unfolds, Nick explores a world of cocaine, gay cruising and monied self-confidence, set against a background of ´80s social problems including AIDS.
Alan Hollinghurst, born in Gloucestershire, western England, studied at Oxford, served as deputy editor of the Times Literary Supplement and was named one of Britain's Best Young Novelists by the journal Granta in 1993. His earlier novels are 1988's "The Swimming Pool Library," 1994's "The Folding Star," which was shortlisted for the Booker, and 1998's "The Spell."
"Hollinghurst proves to be one of the sharpest observers of privileged social groupings since Anthony Powell," The Guardian newspaper said in a review, referring to the acclaimed and prolific British novelist. "The novel has sufficient breadth to evoke the full social spectrum of 1980s Britain - gay and straight, rich and poor," the newspaper said.
The Washington Post enthused that "One can´t get enough of Hollinghurst´s sentences. As the novel progresses, we start to see more and more cracks in the teacup, in this showy world; corruption spreads and stains," the review said.
The Man Booker Prize is open to writers from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth of former British colonies. This year´s six-book shortlist had prompted some criticism for its exclusion of literary heavyweights like V.S. Naipaul and Muriel Spark.
Chris Smith, the Labour Party lawmaker who headed the judging panel, praised the short-listed novels when they were revealed, but said he hadn´t been impressed by the year´s output. This year´s judging panel included novelist Tibor Fischer, writer and academic Robert Macfarlane, Erotic Review editor Rowan Pelling.
The 2004 Shortlisted:
