Man Booker International announcement date revealed

Jane Smiley

Date of winner announcement released

14 April 2009

Organisers of the Man Booker Prizes reveal today (14 April 2009) that the winner of the Man Booker International Prize 2009 will be announced on Wednesday 27 May 2009.

This year's judging panel is chaired by Jane Smiley (pictured). She is joined by the internationally acclaimed author Amit Chaudhuri and novelist, film script writer, and essayist Andrey Kurkov.

Worth £60,000 to the winner, the prize is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language.

The contenders list, which includes14 authors from 12 different countries, was announced on 18 March 2009 in New York.

The winner is chosen solely at the discretion of the judging panel; there are no submissions from publishers. Nigerian writer, Chinua Achebe won the 2007 prize and Albanian writer, Ismail Kadare won the inaugural prize in 2005 and went on to gain worldwide recognition for his work. In addition, there is a separate prize for translation and, if applicable, the winner can choose a translator of his or her work into English to receive a prize of £15,000.

The Man Booker International Prize is significantly different from the annual Man Booker Prize for Fiction in that it highlights one writer's overall contribution to fiction on the world stage.  In seeking out literary excellence the judges consider a writer's body of work rather than a single novel.

The award ceremony will take place on Thursday 25 June 2009 in Dublin.

 A podcast interview with Jane Smiley speaking shortly after the Man Booker International Prize contenders list announcement is available on the site Abbeville Press website

The Man Booker Prize Fiction at its finest