The ‘Man Booker Dozen’ is Announced


The judges for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction have announced the longlist for this year's prize.

The longlist of 13 books, often referred to as the ‘Man Booker Dozen', was chosen from 112 entries; 103 were submitted for the prize and nine were called in by the judges.

The titles are:

Aravind Adiga              The White Tiger                                 
Gaynor Arnold             Girl in a Blue Dress                           
Sebastian Barry           The Secret Scripture                         
John Berger                 From A to X                                         
Michelle de Kretser      The Lost Dog                                     
Amitav Ghosh              Sea of Poppies                                   
Linda Grant                 The Clothes on Their Backs             
Mohammed Hanif         A Case of Exploding Mangoes         
Philip Hensher             The Northern Clemency                     
Joseph O'Neill              Netherland                                         
Salman Rushdie          The Enchantress of Florence           
Tom Rob Smith            Child 44                           
Steve Toltz                   A Fraction of the Whole

Chair of judges, Michael Portillo, commented:

"With a notable degree of consensus, the five Man Booker judges decided on their longlist of 13 books. The judges are pleased with the geographical balance of the longlist with writers from Pakistan, India, Australia, Ireland and UK. We also are happy with the interesting mix of books, five first novels and two novels by former winners. The list covers an extraordinary variety of writing. Still two qualities emerge this year: large scale narrative and the striking use of humour."

Dear SMC,
No Nigerian made the list?

We are not writing the best novels?

After reading some of the past winners of the Booker prize, I have to say
I find the selectors quite self indulgent in their choices.

They have been a few good ones, but many of them are BORING.

Life of Pi was a drag as was 'The God of Small things'

Even the much acclaimed 'Vernon God Little' was on reflection not the most entertaining book.

The selectors of the Orange Prize give more 'rounded' selections.

doyin13:

After reading some of the past winners of the Booker prize, I have to say
I find the selectors quite self indulgent in their choices.

They have been a few good ones, but many of them are BORING.

Life of Pi was a drag as was 'The God of Small things'

Even the much acclaimed 'Vernon God Little' was on reflection not the most entertaining book.

The selectors of the Orange Prize give more 'rounded' selections.

I do disagree with you [but then we all have our different opinions]. However, branding the Orange Broadband prize "more rounded" than the Booker is in no way objective. What makes it more rounded? Is it when incompetent nincompoops like Lily Allen are picked to judge a prize when they are not even competent to judge a contest in their own field?

Anyway, every man to his own.

@ Orikinla,

Off the top of your head, tell me five Nigerian novels you would personally be proud of to nominate for the prize this year.

As far as I'm concerned, Nigerians books are not there because there are not many quality Nigerian books produced period [this is my own opinion o]. Also, one of the conditions of the prize is that the book has to be published in the UK (I mean it could originally have been published in another country, but to qualify for the prize, it must also be published here. In addition, the publisher must make sure that there are a thousand copies of the book if the book is longlisted, as well as undertake to contribute £5,000 for publicity if the book is shortlisted for the prize AND also contribute a further £5000 if the book wins. That pretty much is the death knell for most Nigerian writers, except those who have the good fortune to have good publishers in the west who can commit to these conditions.

@SMC

Even some of the judges past agree with me:

The 2002 judges announced their shortlist of six books with a barbed attack on publishers for submitting "pretentious, portentous and pompous" novels.

The chairwoman, Lisa Jardine, lamented the absence of Irvine Welsh's Indecency, and fellow judge David Baddiel said many entries "had a vulgar and obvious seriousness".

The author Alain de Botton said the panel was "a little attention-seeking" to complain about the heavy tone of the books, quipping that the Booker was "not the WH Smith thumping-good-read award".

Baddiel wrote a furious response on the letters page of The Times. "Can this possibly be the same man I sat next to on The People's Booker show on BBC2 last year," he demanded, "who supported Atonement [by Ian McEwan] because it was such a good read, and claimed that the eventual winner, Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang, was far too heavy going, not a book he would ever give to a friend, and in fact the worst thing he could say about it was that it was exactly the sort of book that wins the Booker Prize?"

doyin13:

@SMC

Even some of the judges past agree with me:

The 2002 judges announced their shortlist of six books with a barbed attack on publishers for submitting "pretentious, portentous and pompous" novels.

The chairwoman, Lisa Jardine, lamented the absence of Irvine Welsh's Indecency, and fellow judge David Baddiel said many entries "had a vulgar and obvious seriousness".

The author Alain de Botton said the panel was "a little attention-seeking" to complain about the heavy tone of the books, quipping that the Booker was "not the WH Smith thumping-good-read award".

Baddiel wrote a furious response on the letters page of The Times. "Can this possibly be the same man I sat next to on The People's Booker show on BBC2 last year," he demanded, "who supported Atonement [by Ian McEwan] because it was such a good read, and claimed that the eventual winner, Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang, was far too heavy going, not a book he would ever give to a friend, and in fact the worst thing he could say about it was that it was exactly the sort of book that wins the Booker Prize?"

This was never in issue. Everyone knows the Booker 'specialises' in 'serious' pieces of literature. What I took you up on was referring to the Orange prize as "more rounded" than the Booker.

Oh and I also disagreed with you saying most of the Booker selections are boring e.g. The Life of Pi (but again, like I said, we cannot all like the same things). Personal tastes are subjective, but analysis of situations should be objective.

SMC:

@ Orikinla,

Off the top of your head, tell me five Nigerian novels you would personally be proud of to nominate for the prize this year.

@ Orikinla,
Are you still thinking up the books, or have you given up and admitted defeat?