The 2009 Man Booker Prize

Not familiar with the Man Booker Prize?  Click here for more information.

TurboBookSnob on Facebook

The TurboBookSnob has started a new discussion group on Facebook.  Join her and chat about the shortlisted books all day on September 8, 2009 and throughout the rest of the Booker season!

The TurboBookSnob has had a challenging year thus far in 2009, and sadly it has affected her ability to work on the 2009 Man Booker Prize as much as she would have liked.  This meant that she was unable to predict the longlist this year.  She is excited, however, to jump in with predictions and reviews for the shortlist, and hopes to begin afresh in 2010.

What an interesting year!  There were more previously Booker-nominated authors on the longlist than in any year in recent memory - Coetzee (a two-time winner), Byatt (a winner in 1990), shortlisted authors Hall, Toibin, Trevor, and Waters, and longlisted authors Mantel and Mawer.  That works out to 8 out of 13 authors with prior Booker Prize experience!

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BabyBookSnob

Ender, the TurboBookSnob's son, has been growing up a lot since last year's Booker season!  He has developed a love of books himself, and loves to take the TurboBookSnob's books off of her shelves and peruse them, even though they are lacking pictures!
Ender even has his own LibraryThing page - BabyBookSnob!  He seems to have developed an affinity for all things Dr. Seuss and Eric Carle!

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What is the Man Booker Prize?

The Booker Prize, or the Man Booker Prize as it has been known since 2002, was created in 1969, and has grown over the years to become the most prestigious prize awarded for literature in the English language.

The Booker Prize is awarded each year to the best full-length novel written in the English language by a citizen of Great Britain, the Commonwealth, Eire, Pakistan, or South Africa. Booker Prize winners have achieved remarkable critical acclaim, sold a record-breaking number of copies (Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally has sold over 2 million copies since it won the prize in 1982), and have been transformed into many well-regarded films.

Throughout the 35 years that the Booker has been in existence, it has changed its name, undergone changes in the governing rules, raised eyebrows with its scandals, drawn press attention as literary heavyweights jabbed at each other, and been accused of touting literary elitism instead of promoting books that people off the street would feel compelled to buy. In spite of all this, and quite possibly because of it, the Booker Prize has emerged as the premier literary prize, not just in the English language, but in the world.

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