Two Women Make the Man Booker Prize Shortlist
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September 6, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
Today’s announcement of the Man Booker Prize shortlist sees two women authors amongst the six writers pitted for the prize.
The shortlist for The Man Booker Prize was announced on Tuesday by chair of the board of judges, Dame Stella Rimington. Two women, Carol Birch and Esi Edugyan, have made it through the second stage of judging, which reduced a 13-strong longlist to a group of six titles.
Dame Stella Rimington commented: “Inevitably it was hard to whittle down the longlist to six titles. We were sorry to lose some great books. But, when push came to shove, we quickly agreed that these six very different titles were the best.”
Birch’s novel, ‘Jamrach’s Menagerie’, relates the experience of a young boy, Jaffy Brown, after being taken in by the purveyor of exotic creatures. The reader follows Jaffy as he embarks on a life-changing voyage as keeper of an extraordinary animal they hope to capture.
Francis Bickmore, Birch’s commissioning editor at Canongate, told The Fresh Outlook that he was “delighted for Carol”, adding that as this is Birch’s eleventh book, the novelist had not until now “got the recognition she deserves”.
He went on to describe her as “a consummate storyteller” gaining “a great balance between a thrilling epic adventure and a beautifully written literary novel”.
Birch is also the only writer on the Shortlist of the Richard and Judy Book Group. Mr Bickmore pointed out that it is “interesting that it is a woman who has managed to cross the boundary between the Man Booker Prize and the Richard and Judy Book Group.”
Birch has enjoyed recognition from Man Booker in the past, making the shortlist in 2003 with her novel ‘Turn Again Home’. She has also been awarded the Geoffrey Faber Award and the David Higham Award for Best First Novel.
In her second novel, ‘Half Blood Blues’, Edugyan tells the story of a search by protagonist Sid for an old friend lost in history. It has been praised by Attica Locke, author of ‘Black Water Rising’, as “one of the freshest pieces of fiction I’ve read”.
Edugyan has also received acclaim in the past, her work appearing in Best New American Voices in 2003. Speaking on being shortlisted, Esi said: “As a young writing student I remember eagerly awaiting The Man Booker Shortlist each year and reading as many of the titles as possible. There was a real sense of ritual to it; it was a very meaningful act to me. I am amazed and deeply honoured.”
The four other authors that make up the shortlist are Julian Barnes, Patrick deWitt, Stephen Kelman, and A. D. Miller.
The shortlisted authors will attend a dinner at London’s Guildhall on 18 October 2011 for the announcement of the winner. The event is set for broadcast on the BBC.
The winner will receive £50,000 as prize money. Those shortlisted, as well as the winner, each receive £2,500 and a designer bound edition of their novel.
There are high hopes for whoever clinches the prize: Howard Jacobson, who won with ‘The Finkler Question’ last year, has sold over 250,000 copies in the UK alone.
By Gwen Smith
[Image provided by Canongate and Profile Books]