40th anniversary
2008 sees the 40th anniversary of the most important literary prize in the English speaking world.
'When the Booker Prize was established forty years ago the aim was to create an English-language Prix Goncourt, an award that would encourage the wider reading of the very best in fiction across the UK and the Commonwealth', says Ion Trewin, Administrator of the Man Booker Prizes. ‘The programme for the 40th anniversary is testimony to that aim being achieved - whether you judge the prize by numbers of books sold, the number of films it has helped generate or the way it has opened our eyes to a range and quality of writing that might otherwise have been ignored.'
Winners of the prize can look forward not only to worldwide recognition but also a place in the history of English literature. Contenders over the years have ranged from well established authors to first time novelists. In the past decade Arundhati Roy for The God of Smalls Things (1997), Yann Martel for Life of Pi (2002) and DBC Pierre for Vernon God Little (2003) were each unknown authors until winning. As testimony to the enduring quality of the winners, all of the books which have scooped the prize are currently in print, with the exception of only one, Something to Answer For. Rights for this are currently under discussion for the anniversary.
In this section you can get an overview of content within the Man Booker Prize website that relates to the 40th anniversary. We have taken archived articles and interviews, and will also be commissioning new pieces throughout 2008.
OVERVIEW: Archive
A complete information resource of the Man Booker Prize since inception in 1969.
28 2007
NEWS STORY: Best of the Booker shortlist announced
Voting opens to the public to decide on winner
12 2008
PRESS RELEASE: The Best of the Booker shortlist announced
Public to choose the winner
12 2008
OVERVIEW: Vote for The Best of the Booker Prize
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Booker Prize, six authors are in the running to win a one-off award and be titled The Best of the Booker.
12 2008
PRESS RELEASE: The ICA presents ‘The Booker at the Movies’
Does a good book make a good film?
08 2008
NEWS STORY: ICA announces ‘Booker at the Movies’ season
Christopher Hampton among speakers to discuss adaptations
08 2008
NEWS STORY: Booker Prize Quiz answers revealed
Check your Booker knowledge against answers
08 2008
NEWS STORY: The Times launches 40th anniversary quiz
Readers offered chance to own all 41 winning titles
29 2008
NEWS STORY: Literary festivals mark 40th anniversary
Oxford and Charleston join 40th anniversary celebrations
14 2008
NEWS STORY: Achievements of prize’s 40 years recognised
Literary editor hails the positive impact of the literary prize
09 2008
PRESS RELEASE: The Best of the Booker
Celebrating the best fiction of the past 40 years
21 2008
NEWS STORY: The Best of the Booker award launched
One-off award announced as part of 40th anniversary celebrations
21 2008
NEWS STORY: ICA to host film season
‘Booker Prize at the Movies’ to launch in 2008
04 December 2007
PRESS RELEASE: 40th anniversary in 2008
Plans for 2008 celebrations revealed
04 December 2007
NEWS STORY: The Booker Prize celebrates 40th
Major celebrations for anniversary
03 December 2007
EVENT: The Best of the Booker winner announcement
After two months of public voting, the winner of the Best of the Booker Prize title and award will be announced today at the London Literature Festival.
EVENT: Happy Birthday Booker
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the prestigious Man Booker Prize, Victoria Glendinning, former Booker judge and biographer of Leonard Woolf, will chair a book club where members of a literary panel champion their own favourite Booker novel, as well as those that did not make it. The panel will include writer, presenter, comedian and judge of this year’s Prize, Hardeep Singh Kohli; Kate Mosse, co-founder of the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction, hugely successful author of Labyrinth (Richard and Judy Book of the Year), Sepulchre, and presenter of Radio 4’s A Good Read.
EVENT: Forty years of the Booker Prize
2008 sees the 40th anniversary of the Booker Prize (now the Man Booker Prize) for Fiction, the most important literary prize in the English speaking world. To celebrate the anniversary, Ion Trewin, Administrator of the Man Booker Prize, will chair a panel considering the impact of the Booker Prize and discussing the best books of the last 40 years. Amongst others, the panel will include critic, biographer and former Man Booker Prize judge, Ruth Scurr, and Peter Kemp, Fiction Editor of The Sunday Times.
COMMISSIONED ARTICLE: How it all Began
Tom Maschler on how the Booker Prize was created
04 December 2007
COMMISSIONED ARTICLE: Hitting the Headlines
Controversy throughout the prize’s history
04 December 2007
COMMISSIONED ARTICLE: Chairing the Man Booker Prize
John Carey on chairing the Man Booker Prize twice
03 December 2007
