The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

Neill Denny is editor-in-chief of The Bookseller. He will be blogging on the book business and on how the print magazine is produced each week.

Booker: a changing of the guard?

07.08.07

Just had a quick glance at the Booker longlist. My first impressions are it's a bit thin on big names, with only AN Wilson and Ian McEwan (already the bookies favourite) having genuine cut-though, and that in business terms, it's something of a triumph for Random House with four authors listed.  Also sure to catch the attention is little-known indie Myrmidon, on the list with The gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng, one of four debut novelists in total.

A changing of the guard?

At 13 the list is more manageable than the old 20-odd and it will be interesting to see if a more focused list will benefit retailers. Certainly, we understand that one major supermarket is planning a major promotion at shortlisting in September . . .

The Bookseller has already interviewed two of the longlisted authors:

Nikita Lalwani

And,

Peter Ho Davies