Cheltenham Booker Prize
Find out more about the annual Cheltenham Booker event which takes place at The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival
At the Booker Prize dinner in 1993, Gillian Beer, one of the judges that year, and I fell into discussing who might have won the prize if it had existed a century earlier. Gillian, an authority on Victorian fiction, started mentioning authors: Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, George du Maurier as well as the now less familiar George Gissing and George Moore. Our enthusiasm was such that at the interval before the presentation of the 1993 prize to Roddy Doyle I spoke to Sir Michael Caine, chairman of Booker plc and to Humphrey Carpenter, director of the Cheltenham Literature Festival. Within minutes an idea had been born to stage a 'Cheltenham Booker' at the 1994 festival when a panel of critics would debate the merits of a shortlist of 1894 novels, one of which would emerge as the winner. And so an annual event began. The form has changed little although the number of books has been reduced. And each year's event begins with John Coldstream giving a portrait of the year in question. We apply some local rules as those familiar with the Booker (now Man Booker) prize will be quick to spot - at Cheltenham we allow American authors. And in its tenth year we changed the format further, for one year only, asking the judges to choose 'the one that got away', ie the best novel from those that failed to win the Booker in their year of publication.
Ion Trewin, Literary Director for the Man Booker Prizes.
For more information about The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival, please visit their website.
2009: Year 1969
Portnoy's Complaint Philip Roth (Winner)
The Edible Woman Margaret Atwood
The French Lieutenant's Woman John Fowles
Travels with My Aunt Graham Greene
Judges
Kate Adie, Mary Beard, Erica Wagner, John Walsh, (Ion Trewin)
2008: Year 1948
Cry, The Beloved Country Alan Paton (Winner)
The Heart of the Matter Graham Greene
The Naked and the Dead Norman Mailer
The Loved One Evelyn Waugh
Judges
A C Grayling, Hardeep Singh Kohli, Sue Perkins, Erica Wagner, (Ion Trewin)
2007: Year 1932
Stamboul Train Graham Greene (Winner)
Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons
Brave New World Aldous Huxley
Black Mischief Evelyn Waugh
Judges
Katie Hickman, Simon Hoggart, Ruth Padel, Erica Wagner, (Ion Trewin)
2006: Year 1966
Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys (Winner)
The Magus John Fowles
The Comedians Graham Greene
The Jewel in the Crown Paul Scott
Judges
Louise Doughty, Sarah Dunant, Roy Hattersley, John Sutherland, (Ion Trewin)
2005: Year 1935
Blandings Castle P. G. Wodehouse (Winner)
A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway
Mr Norris Changes Trains Christopher Isherwood
Murder Must Advertise Dorothy L Sayers
Judges
Alexander McCall Smith, James Naughtie, Simon Hoggart, Erica Wagner, (Ion Trewin)
2004: Year 1934
A Handful of Dust Evelyn Waugh (Winner)
Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie
Tender Is the Night F. Scott Fitzgerald
I, Claudius Robert Graves
Tropic of Cancer Henry Miller
Judges
Ruth Padel, Deborah Moggach, Boyd Tonkin, Adrian Mitchell, (Ion Trewin)
2003: The One That Got Away (10thYear)
A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth (Winner)
London Fields Martin Amis
Any Human Heart William Boyd
Birdsong Sebastian Faulks
Enduring Love Ian McEwan
Judges
Claire Tomalin, Joan Bakewell, Simon Hoggart, Sue McGregor, Boyd Tonkin, (Ion Trewin)
2002: Year 1952
East of Eden John Steinbeck (Winner)
Doctor in the House Richard Gordon
The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway
Martha Quest Doris Lessing
Men at Arms Evelyn Waugh
Judges
Justin Cartwright, A. C. Grayling, Simon Hoggart, Selina Hastings, Boyd Tonkin, (Ion Trewin)
2001: Year 1961
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark (Winner)
Catch-22 Joseph Heller
A House for Mr Biswas V. S. Naipaul
Unconditional Surrender Evelyn Waugh
The Old Men at the Zoo Angus Wilson
Judges
John Burnside, Emma Donoghue, Francine Stock, James Naughtie, Boyd Tonkin, (Ion Trewin)
2000: Year 1925
The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald (Winner)
An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Anita Loos
Carry on, Jeeves P. G. Wodehouse
Mrs Dalloway Virginia Woolf
Judges
Hermione Lee, Simon Hoggart, Victoria Glendinning, Boyd Tonkin, Ion Trewin
1999: Year 1954
Lord of the Flies William Golding (Winner)
Lucky Jim Kingsley Amis
A Proper Marriage Doris Lessing
Under the Net Iris Murdoch
The New Men C. P. Snow
Lord of the Rings J. R. R. Tolkien
Judges
Roy Hattersley, Melvyn Bragg, Claire Tomalin, John Lanchester, Victoria Glendinning, (Ion Trewin)
1998: Year 1928
Decline and Fall Evelyn Waugh (Winner)
The Well of Loneliness Radclyffe Hall
Point Counter Point Aldous Huxley
Lady Chatterley's Lover D. H. Lawrence
The House at Pooh Corner A. A. Milne
Orlando Virginia Woolf
Judges
John Walsh, Douglas Hurd, Melvyn Bragg, Claire Tomalin, Victoria Glendinning, (Ion Trewin)
1997: Year 1847
Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray (Winner)
Agnes Grey Anne Brontë
Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë
Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë
Dombey and Son Charles Dickens
The Macdermots of Ballycloran Anthony Trollope
Judges
Melvyn Bragg, Roy Hattersley, Malcolm Bradbury, Claire Tomalin
Victoria Glendinning, (Ion Trewin)
1996: Year 1896
The Island of Doctor Moreau H. G. Wells (Winner)
An Outcast of the Islands Joseph Conrad
The Other House Henry James
A Child of the Jago Arthur Morrison
Clara Hopgood Mark Rutherford
Weir of Hermiston Robert Louis Stevenson
Judges
John Cole, Rachel Billington, Gillian Beer, John Coldstream, Hilary Laurie, (Ion Trewin)
1995: Year 1895
Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy (Winner)
Almayer's Folly Joseph Conrad
The Red Badge of Courage Stephen Crane
Gallia Menie Muriel Downie
The Three Imposters Arthur Machen
The Time Machine H. G. Wells
Judges
Melvyn Bragg, Gillian Beer, Hilary Laurie, John Coldstream, Victoria Glendinning, (Ion Trewin)
1994: Year 1894
Esther Waters George Moore (Winner)
Trilby George du Maurier
In the Year of Jubilee George Gissing
The Prisoner of Zenda Anthony Hope
The Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling
The Ebb-Tide Robert Louis Stevenson
Judges
Melvyn Bragg, Victoria Glendinning, Gillian Beer, John Coldstream, Martyn Goff, (Ion Trewin)
