The Bookseller.com

7th September 2008

« Headlines

Crowning Booker’s best

21.02.08 John Ryan

The fortieth anniversary of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction will be marked with a one-off award this year, the Best of the Booker, for the most outstanding novel since the award was founded.

Ion Trewin, administrator of the prize, said: "This is a marvellous opportunity for a bit of backlist selling. This is, if you like, the upmarket 'Richard & Judy' and we know the Booker Prize can do this."

He said that the award would also be useful for reading groups: "One of the ideas that I’ve got is that each book should contain a guide for reading groups to help them on their way."

The Best of the Booker will be judged by a panel consisting of novelist Victoria Glendinning, broadcaster Mariella Frostrup and John Mullan, professor of English at UCL, who will announce a shortlist of six in April. There will then be a six-week fallow period, to allow publishers time to organise a relaunch of the selected titles. The shortlist will then be opened to the public to vote for the best Booker novel.

Trewin said that in order to avoid confusion with the annual Man Booker Prize, the award will be made separately with the winner being announced at the London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre in July.

In 1993, Salman Rushdie scooped the Booker of Bookers in recognition of the award’s 25th birthday for Midnight’s Children. Rushdie is also the early favourite to win the Best of the Booker award at 1/4, according to Ladbrokes betting agency. The 2007 Booker Prize recipient Anne Enright is 12/1 to claim the award, whilst the first ever winner, Something To Answer For, is a 40/1 shot.

Other events to mark the Booker’s 40th anniversary include an exhibition at the V&A and a film season at the ICA. The British Council continues its negotiations with publishers of former prizewinners about the possibility of publishing the Booker backlist as a series of e-books. To date, no deals have been signed.

John Ryan Prize Man Booker Prize for Fiction Best of the Booker