Chair judge for the 2010 Man Booker Prize for Fiction

Andrew Motion to chair the Man Booker Prize 2010

Former Poet Laureate announced as next chair

Press release: Wednesday 18th November 2009

Andrew Motion to chair the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2010

Sir Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate, is today (Wednesday 18th November) announced as Chair of the judges for the 2010 Man Booker Prize for Fiction - the most significant literary prize in the English language.

Andrew Motion comments, ‘It's an honour to be asked to chair the Man Booker Prize, which has consistently been a focus for the best fiction of recent years. It's an exciting challenge too: a lot of difficult decisions lie ahead.

I greatly look forward to a year of reading voraciously.'

Andrew Motion is Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway College, University of London and co-founder of the online Poetry Archive. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1999 for a ten year term. He has received numerous awards for his writing. His group study The Lamberts won the Somerset Maugham Award and his authorised life of Philip Larkin won the Whitbread Prize for Biography. Andrew Motion was knighted for his services to literature in 2009.

The longlist, ‘The Booker Dozen' - the 12 (or 13) titles under serious consideration for the prize - will be announced in late July. The shortlist of six books will be announced in early September. The Man Booker Prize 2010 winner will be announced on the BBC from London's Guildhall at an awards ceremony on Tuesday 12th October 2010.

Notes to Editors:

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Fourth Estate) won the 2009 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. It has now sold over 120,000 copies in the UK.

Photographs of Andrew Motion are available from Colman Getty.

The Booker Prize for Fiction was first awarded in 1969, and Man Group plc was announced as the sponsor of the prize in April 2002, with a five year extension agreed in 2006. For a full history of the prize including previous winners, shortlisted authors and judges visit the website: http://www.themanbookerprize.com/. It is a major media and information tool which is accessed worldwide with up to the minute information about both the annual Man Booker Prize and the biennial Man Booker International Prize. Featuring news, interviews and written pieces as well as a lively forum and full history archive of the prize, the site is used by journalists, bloggers and general members of the public on a daily basis.

The Advisory Committee, which advises on any changes to the rules and on the selection of the judges, represents all sides of the book world. Its members are: Ion Trewin, Chair (Literary Director, Man Booker Prizes); Richard Cable, publisher; Mark Chilton, Company Secretary, Booker Ltd; Peter Clarke, Chief Executive, Man Group plc; Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust; Victoria Glendinning, writer; Basil Comely, BBC TV; Derek Johns, literary agent; Gerry Johnson, Managing Director, Waterstone's; Peter Kemp, fiction editor, The Sunday Times; Nigel Newton, publisher; Fiammetta Rocco, literary editor, The Economist (Man Booker International Prize administrator); Eve Smith (Company Secretary, the Booker Prize Foundation); and Robert Topping; Topping & Company Booksellers.

The Booker Prize Foundation is a registered charity (no 1090049) which, since 2002, has been responsible for the award of the prize. The trustees of the Booker Prize Foundation are former Chairman of Booker plc, Jonathan Taylor CBE (Chair); Lord Baker of Dorking CH; playwright and President of the Royal Literary Fund, Ronald Harwood CBE; former Chair of the British Council, Baroness Kennedy QC; writer, Baroness Neuberger DBE; and former Finance Director of Rentokil plc, Christopher Pearce. Martyn Goff CBE, former Man Booker Prize administrator, has recently been appointed President of the Foundation and Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne is a Vice President.

The Man Booker Prize is sponsored by Man Group plc. Man is a world-leading alternative investment management business. With a broad range of funds for institutional and private investors globally, it is known for its performance, innovative product design and investor service. Man manages around $44 billion. The original business was founded in 1783. Today, Man Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100 Index with a market capitalisation of around £5 billion. Man Group is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the FTSE4Good Index.

Man Group supports many awards, charities and initiatives around the world, including sponsorship of the Man Booker literary prizes. In the year to March 2OO9 the Man Group plc Charitable Trust gave almost 1O% of its charitable budget to charities concerned with improving literacy. The Trust continues to support the ‘Every Child a Reader' reading recovery programme with a donation of £1m spread over three years from 2OO6. A sizeable donation was also made to Dyslexia Action, with the Medical Foundation for the care of victims of torture ‘Write to Life' project, Bookaid International, Volunteer Reading Help, The Shannon Trust and St. Petrock's (Exeter) receiving smaller donations. The Trust also supports the RNIB Talking Books Service, enabling the production and distribution of Talking Book formats of the shortlisted titles of the Man Booker Prize.

Further information can be found at http://www.mangroupplc.com/