Man Booker Prize for Fiction strengthens digital initiatives in 2011

Exciting new Man Booker Prize content on iTunes

28 September 2011

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2011 continues its efforts to bring the best of new literature to the widest possible audience with a range of exciting digital initiatives.

Visitors to Apple's iBookstore can now download a sample of each of the shortlisted titles in both book and audio format. The iBookstore is included in the free iBooks App for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.co.uk. Also available on iTunes is a range of free audio podcasts, produced by the Man Booker Prize and featuring exclusive content including interviews with shortlisted authors and judges.

Updated for this edition of the prize is the Man Booker Prize app, now available on the App Store, offering a comprehensive guide to the prize with information on judges, longlists, shortlists and winners since the prize's inception in 1969 as well as audio readings from the shortlisted books.

Ion Trewin, Literary Director of the Booker Foundation, comments: "With the digital experience becoming so much a part of the world of reading, this initiative demonstrates how important we rate the ability to sample and buy this year's shortlist in every possible format."

The six books on the 2011 shortlist are: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch, The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt, Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan, Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman and Snowdrops by A.D. Miller. The winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize will be announced on Tuesday 18 October 2011 at London's Guildhall.

For all press enquiries please contact
Katy MacMillan-Scott or Amy Barder at Colman Getty
Tel: 020 7631 2666
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Notes to Editors:

• For press tickets to the Apple Store event, please contact Colman Getty

• To access podcasts or to download the iPhone app, visit the iTunes store: www.itunes.co.uk

• The 2011 Man Booker Prize shortlist is:

Author - Title (Publisher)

Julian Barnes - The Sense of an Ending (Jonathan Cape - Random House)
Carol Birch - Jamrach's Menagerie (Canongate Books)
Patrick deWitt - The Sisters Brothers (Granta)
Esi Edugyan - Half Blood Blues (Serpent's Tail)
Stephen Kelman - Pigeon English (Bloomsbury)
A.D. Miller - Snowdrops (Atlantic)

The shortlisted books were chosen from a longlist of 13

• The judges for the 2011 Prize are writer and journalist, Matthew d'Ancona; author, Susan Hill; author and politician, Chris Mullin; and Head of Books at the Daily Telegraph, Gaby Wood. Dame Stella Rimington is the Chair

• The Booker Prize for Fiction was first awarded in 1969, and Man 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: www.themanbookerprize.com

• 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, Booker Foundation); Richard Cable, publisher; Mark Chilton, Company Secretary and General Counsel of Booker Group plc; Peter Clarke, Chief Executive, Man; Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust; Maggie Fergusson, writer and Secretary of the Royal Society of Literature; Basil Comely, BBC TV; Derek Johns, literary agent; Peter Kemp, Chief Fiction Reviewer, The Sunday Times; James Daunt, Managing Director of Waterstone's; 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, Sir Ronald Harwood CBE; former Chair of the British Council, Baroness Kennedy QC; Professor of Creative Writing, Royal Holloway College University of London and former Poet Laureate, Sir Andrew Motion; broadcaster, James Naughtie; biographer, Victoria Glendinning and former Finance Director of Rentokil plc, Christopher Pearce. Martyn Goff CBE, former Man Booker Prize administrator, is President of the Foundation and Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne and Baroness Neuberger are Vice Presidents

• About Man

Man is a world-leading alternative investment management business. It has expertise in a wide range of liquid investment styles including managed futures, equity, credit and convertibles, emerging markets, global macro and multi-manager, combined with powerful product structuring, distribution and client service capabilities. As at 30 June 2011, Man managed $71.0 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 more than £4 billion.

Man is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the FTSE4Good Index. Man also supports many awards, charities and initiatives around the world, including sponsorship of the Man Booker literary prizes. Further information can be found at www.mangroupplc.com

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