We're Moving!

It's our 1st birthday  today and it seems like a good time to announce the launch of.....

 

READ IT RIBBIT 2.0

Yes, Read It Ribbit is having a makeover and we're moving to Wordpress! (Click on the link above to see the new site)

We'll still be posting all the news, features and reviews that you enjoy but  we'll be making it bigger and better than ever before. 

All the old content will remain here at blogspot as an archive but from now on in, all new content will be posted on wordpress.

Thanks for sticking with us for our inaugural year. We hope to see you over there soon for the latest Cheat Sheet (which will be published on the last day of each month) and more.


Hannah

Julian Barnes Wins Man Booker Prize 2011

Photo by Tim Valentine

After four nominations, Julian Barnes has finally won the Booker Prize 2011 for his latest novel, The Sense of an Ending.

The novella has been praised for it's portrayal of the fluidity of human memories and ageing. Narrator, Tony Webster, is forced to re-evaluate his youthful memories when he is bequeathed an old friend's diary.

This year's panel  has faced some controversy for the populist tone of it's list. The Man Booker has traditonally been associated with so called Literary Fiction. Head of this year's judging panel, Dame Stella Rimington, has been repeatedly forced to defend her panel's decisions: a fact she alluded to in her speech as she presented this year's award.

Despite criticism from some corners, the shortlist has proved to be wildly popular with readers, breaking previous year's figures to be the best selling Booker shortlist ever.

Barnes was awarded the £50,000 prize at a ceremony tonight at the London Guild Hall.

News Roundup

A very Brtish news round up. Photo by Matt Callow

Howdy Book Lovers!

For those of you who are new to the blog, welcome! For all the returning readers, thanks for coming back.

Read It Ribbit's posting may go a bit quiet in the next few weeks, but that's only because I'm working on some big changes at the moment (watch this space for more info). I'm also putting together some more regular features as the Cheat Sheet seems to have taken off. What do you lot think? Is there anything you'd like us to cover more often? Send us a suggestion in the comments box at the bottom of this post an we'll try to accommodate.

And now for the news roundup:

1)The Book Vow: (see my earlier posts)
Was going exceedingly swimmingly, then I started a course and now I'm bogged down with text books. I am, however, still ploughing away (although at a much reduced rate)at the books on  my shelf I haven't yet read. We're down to around six now and although I'd love to say they'll all be finished by Christmas, I'm being realistic. However, I've decided that the project will end with the year 2011 and I'll once again start buying and consuming library books at my usual rate. So there may be one or two left over on the shelves, but I think a year of a book addict resisting temptation (all be it with a minor hiccup at the Hay Festival where I bought 3 new books but am yet to read said items) is pretty good going.

2) The Nobel Prize for Literature...
This year, the award was given to Tomas Tranströmer, a Swedish poet who's works have been translated into over fifty different languages. If you want to find out more about this years prize, see the Nobel webpage

3) Haruki Murakami's IQ84 is almost here!
British Murakami fans won't have to wait much longer as his much lauded magnum opus IQ84 is due for imminent release in it's various volumes. A million copies of books 1 and 2 were sold within one month when they were published in Japan. Unlike the Japanese, UK readers won't have to wait nearly as long to get their hands on the entire novel as book three is being published a week after the combined books one and two, hit the shelves next week.

4) And now for something unexpected...
Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker has been named as editor-at-large for Faber and Faber and will take on commissioning duties for the publishing house. Cocker is set to become a published author himself with the release of his first book, Mother, Brother, Lover next week through Faber and Faber. 

Super Thursday

The biggest day in the publishing calendar has rolled around once more: Super Thursday is here again. ‘Super Thursday’ has become a staple of the British publishing landscape over the last few years as companies rush to gain those all important Christmas sales.

Over two hundred new hardback titles were released today, flooding bookshops with a host of celebrity autobiographies, fiction and cookery titles which are sure to make this year’s Christmas lists.

In a break from the patterns of the past few years, publishers have staggered some of their autumn releases in a bid to increase sales across the season.

This year’s Super Thursday list includes the latest Jamie Oliver: Jamie’s Great Britain, James Corden’s autobiography, the latest offering from Bernard Cornwell and comedy character Alan Partridge’s autobiography 'I Partridge: We Need to Talk About Alan'.

Book makers are already giving odds on the top sellers this Christmas, with Jamie Oliver and the Guinness Book of Records currently leading the pack according to William Hill.

Man Booker Shortlist 2011 Announced

The shortlist of this year’s Man Booker Prize for fiction was announced yesterday.

As reflected in the long list, a noticeable trend towards unknown authors and small publishing houses has made itself felt in this year’s nominations. Whilst previous nominees Carol Birch and Julian Barnes (the favourite to win) each make it to the shortlist, two of the six nominations go to debut novelists. Meanwhile, four of the six nominated titles were printed by smaller publishing houses: perhaps suggesting a shift in attitudes towards the changing publishing industry.

There’s also a first for this year’s shortlist in the form of Patrick deWitt’s novel The Sisters Brothers, believed to be the first Western to be make it to the coveted top six.

This year, 138 books were marked for consideration before being whittled down to the top six. Head of the judging panel, Dame Stella Rimmington said;  “Inevitably it was hard to whittle down the longlist to six titles. We were sorry to lose some great books. But, when push came to shove, we quickly agreed that these six very different titles were the best.”

The winner of this year’s prize will be announced on October the 18^th and in the immediate run up, there will be several author events with the writers of the short listed titles, details of which will be announced in due course on the Man Booker website.

Shortlist

• 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 Great Edinburgh Book Sculpture Mystery

Photo by Robert Burdock , who also has an amusing Twitter feed

A real life mystery worthy of the most intricate plots has been slowly playing out in Edinburgh. If you’ve been lucky enough to visit the Edinburgh Book Festival this year, you may have spotted an intricate paper sculpture or two which have appeared overnight, left by an anonymous source (see picture).

The intricate sculptures, each crafted from an individual book, show a figure dwarfed by trees which was titled Lost (albeit in a good book) which was crafted from a copy of James Hogg’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner and a rather lovely tea tray featuring a cupcake and cup with the message ‘this cup is awarded to @edbookfest’ (the Twitter name of the festival).

These sculptures are just the latest gifts from the anonymous donor, who has left several sculptures around the city this summer. The early sculptures seemed to be a collection which celebrated Ian Rankin’s popular Rebus series (which are based in Edinburgh) and were left in places of literary note around the city. The Scottish Storytelling Centre now displays a sculpture of a hatching dragon’s egg which they discovered on their premises, the Filmhouse received a miniature cinema complete with charging horses coming out of the screen, the Scottish Poetry Library was gifted a witty ‘Poetree’ and the National Library of Scotland have been the recipients of a delicate gramophone and coffin protruding from a copy of Rankin’s Exit Music. All of the sculptures so far have included a note which states that the sculptures have been created and given to the specific institutions:

‘In support of libraries, books, words, ideas…’. 

All of the tags are handwritten and seem to be in the same handwriting, suggesting that all the sculptures have been created by the same person.

The creator of these mini masterpieces is yet to come forward, despite heavy media coverage. So what are the clues we do have?

• Well, the Edinburgh Book sculptor obviously has links to the city, 
• is a fan of the arts and culture scene, 
• understands the link between Edinburgh and certain pieces of literature 
• and is, more than likely, an Ian Rankin fan. 

Rankin himself has denied any responsibility for the sculptures, which goes someway to rule out a novel marketing campaign (pun not intended).

A quick Google search for 'book sculptures' and 'Scotland' brought up a litany of names, including Su Blackwell (who has a rather funky site displaying her gorgeous works which you can visit here) Georgia Russell , and many more outside of Scotland including the American, Brian Dettmer, which just goes to show the popularity of the medium. Whilst the list of worldwide professional artist’s names continues to grow, there is no evidence to discount a previously unknown amateur as being responsible for the sculptures.  

Whilst the odds are on a British/Scottish artist being revealed as the mystery sculptor, there is still no solid proof about their identity until the sculptor chooses to reveal themselves. I think in this case, I’m quite happy for the mystery to remain unsolved. What is important, is remembering the gesture behind the gifts. As their accompanying note cards say, they were made in respect of literature, libraries, ideas and culture: a sentiment that I heartily agree with. Looking at the beautiful paper marvels themselves, it almost doesn’t matter who made them, just that they were made at all.

If you’d like to see all the mystery sculptures in their full glory, click the link below:  http://community.thisiscentralstation.com/_Mysterious-paper-sculptures/blog/4991767/126249.html

EDIT 4TH NOVEMBER 2011:

ReaditRibbit has moved! Check out the new blog here

Bulwer-Lytton Worst Writing Award Announced

'It was a dark and stormy night......' Photo by Ambro

Imagine sweating for years over your magnum opus: painstakingly choosing each comma, each word, even which font your masterwork will be presented to the world in. Sounds like hard work doesn’t it? Spare a thought for American Authour, Sue Fondrie, who this week was awarded the Bulwer-Lytton prize for the worst sentence published this year.

Although the name of the prize is not as well known as the Booker or the Costa Award, nearly everyone can quote the beginning of the first sentence to ever win the ‘accolade’:

‘It was a dark and stormy night when….’

This line opened the 1830 novel, Paul Clifford written by English poet and novelist, Edward George Bulwer-Lytton. The prize was set up in 1980 by the English department of San Jose State University and named in Bulwer-Lytton’s honour.

This year’s ‘winner’ was duly awarded the prize for the following sentence:

‘Cheryl’s mind turned like the vanes of a wind-powered turbine, chopping her sparrow-like thoughts into bloody pieces that fell onto a growing pile of forgotten memories.’

Fondrie’s sentence is the shortest to ever win the top prize.

What do you think? Have you heard worse? Answers on a postcard (or you can just leave a comment below and save yourself the postage).

Man Booker Prize 2011 Longlist Announced

The longlist for the 2011 Man Booker Prize was unveiled today. This year’s judging panel, chaired by former Director- General of MI5 Dame Stella Rimington, have chosen an eclectic thirteen titles from one hundred and thirty eight candidates including four debut novelists, three Canadian authors, three publishers who have never before had a title nominated, one previous winner in Alan Hollinghurst and three times (now four times) nominated Julian Barnes.

Judges Stella Rimmington, editor of the Spectator Matthew d’Ancona, author Susan Hill, journalist and politician Chris Mullin and the Daily Telegraph’s Gaby Wood had the task of choosing the final diverse thirteen titles. Dame Stella commented:

'We are delighted by the quality and breadth of our long list, which emerged from an impassioned discussion. The list ranges from the Wild West to multi-ethnic London via post-Cold War Moscow and Bucharest, and includes four first novels.' 

Only four of the thirteen authors have featured on the long list previously: Hollinghurst who won the award in 2004 for The Line of Beauty, literary favourite Julian Barnes and Irish writer Sebastian Barry, who won the Costa Prize in 2009 with The Secret Scripture. Book makers are currently favouring Hollinghurst’s latest novel The Stranger’s Child to win the prize, offering odds of 5/1.

This year’s longlist also promotes a marked shift towards smaller publishers, reflecting the changing face of the publishing industry. Welsh publisher Seren Books, Oxfordshire based Oneworld Publications and the Scottish Sandstone Press each have a title present in the longlist, drawing unprecedented attention to the blossoming trade in alternative and independent publishing.

The 2010 prize was awarded to Howard Jacobson for his comic The Finkler Question. The 2011 short list will be announced on the 6^th of September.

The Man Booker Prize Longlist 2011

• Julian Barnes - The Sense of an Ending - (Jonathan Cape -Random House) 3 previous nominations.
• Sebastian Barry - On Canaan’s Side -  (Faber) 2 previous nominations.
• Carol Birch -Jamrach’s Menagerie - (Canongate Books) 1 previous nomination
• Patrick deWitt - The Sisters Brothers - ( Granta)
• Esi Edugyan - Half Blood Blues - (Serpent’s Tail- Profile)
• Yvette Edwards - A Cupboard Full of Coats - (Oneworld) Debut Novel
• Alan Hollinghurst - The Stranger’s Child - (Picador- Pan Macmillan) 2 previous nominations
• Stephen Kelman - Pigeon English - (Bloomsbury) Debut Novel
• Patrick McGuinness - The Last Hundred Days - (Seren Books) Debut Novel
• A.D. Miller – Snowdrops - (Atlantic) Debut Novel
• Alison Pick - Far to Go - (Headline Review)
• Jane Rogers - The Testament of Jessie Lamb - (Sandstone Press)
• D.J. Taylor - Derby Day - (Chatto & Windus- Random House)

Jack Reacher Scoops Lee Child Crime Writer of the Year Award

Photo by Steve_C on Flickr

Lee Child has been named as Crime Writer of the year award at the Harrogate Literary Festival with his latest novel 61 Hours.

The popular writer of the Jack Reacher series of books was honoured by the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel award this weekend. The fictional American crime detective has cemented Child’s reputation as a class crime writer; a copy of one of his Reacher series is sold every few seconds. Child is also the first British author to have sold over a million Amazon Kindle e-books. This popularity is set to soar higher with the release of a film based on the first Reacher book, One Shot, starring Tom Cruise as the hero.

It is the first time Child has won the award, beating the likes of twice previous winner Mark Billingham, Tess Gerritsen and Linwood Barclay.

The event also saw PD James honoured with a lifetime achievement award for her outstanding contribution to crime writing. Baroness James has been publishing crime novels for over fifty years with the her most famous detective, Adam Dalgliesh , featuring in her debut, Cover Her Face published in 1962.

Samuel Johnson Prize Awarded to Mao's Great Famine

Mao's image still looms large in modern China (photo by bokurdotnet)

The BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non Fiction has been awarded to Frank Dikotter for his seminal work on the life and of Chairman Mao, titled Mao’s Great Famine. The Dutch historian beat five other short listed titles including a biography of Caravaggio and a study of Bismarck’s life to claim the £20,000 prize.

Focusing on the so called ‘Great Leap Forward’ which took place between 1958 and 1962, the book studies Mao Zedong’s attempt to ‘overtake’ the British Economy within a fifteen year period which resulted in widespread hardship, famine and directly led to the death of over 45 million people.

Chair of this year’s judging panel, Ben Macintyre, describes the Mao’s Great Famine as ‘ an epic record of human folly’, going as far as to claim that the study ‘casts Chinese history in a radical new light, with a devastating psychological portrait of the dictator’.

The prize is the largest awarded for non fiction within the UK and is open to all non fiction genres.

Each of the short listed authors (see below) also received £1000 in prize money for their titles.

Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2011 Shortlist was:

• Mao’s Great Famine by Frank Dikötter (Bloomsbury)
• Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane by Andrew Graham Dixon (Allen Lane)
• Liberty’s Exiles by Maya Jasanoff (HarperPress)
• The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley (Fourth Estate)
• Bismarck: A Life by Jonathan Steinberg (Oxford University Press)
• Reprobates by John Stubbs (Viking)

Desmond Elliot Prize Awarded to 'Saraswati Park'

Anjali Joseph has been announced as the winner of this year’s Desmond Elliot Prize for her novel ‘Saraswati Park’. One of the newest awards on the literary scene since its foundation in 2007, the Prize has supported debut writers with its £10,000 award. Set up in honour of former publisher and literary agent, Desmond Elliot, the prize is awarded annually to a novel with ‘depth and breadth with a compelling narrative. 

 

Set amongst the middle-class suburbs of Bombay, 'Saraswati Park'  follows the lives of letter writer Mohan, his wife Lakshmi and their 19 year old nephew Ashish as they deal with the trials and tibualations of relationships in their modern lives. The novel has already received critical acclaim from the international press. Joseph, a former editor for Elle Magazine in India, is now writing her second novel.

What is Pottermore? J.K. Rowling Announces New Project As Online Reading Experience

Pottermore website

Harry Potter fans have been eagerly awaiting today’s announcement from J.K. Rowling about her mysterious Pottermore project.  Until today, the website displayed a purple holding page with a link to a Youtube account showing owls massing around a countdown to the announcement.

Ms Rowling is due to hold a press conference at the Victoria and Albert Museum to announce the project to the media. At midday, a Youtube video went live where J.K. Rowling herself revealed Pottermore, somewhat enigmatically, as 

‘an online reading experience unlike any other’. 

Open to the public from October, Rowling promised that the site would be ‘unique’ in that fans of the book will have an influence on the shape of the project and stated that she’d be ‘joining in’ with the experience by releasing extra information about the Harry Potter world which did not feature in the books. Rowling also confirmed that the Pottermore website will be the exclusive place to purchase audio and ebooks of the series. 

The video also contained the promise of an early entry to the site for a lucky few individuals and a link to email registration has now appeared on the main Pottermore site.

Speculation about the nature of the project has been great with favourite fan theories including an online, multiplayer game and the long promised encyclopadia of the Potterverse. News that lead actor, Daniel Radcliffe, knew nothing of the Pottermore project was seen by some to rule out the possibility of a new book and subsequent film release. Rowling has reportedly given sneak previews to certain Potter fan sites, including The Leaky Cauldron, which called the project ‘breathtaking’

The final part of the film franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, is in cinemas in the UK from the July the 15^th.

Self Published Author Sells 1 Million e-books on Kindle

Photo by Witer

A publishing milestone has been reached today with the announcement that a self published author has sold over 1 million e-books.

Using Amazons Kindle Direct Publishing service, John Locke*, an insurance salesman from Kentucky and part time author, has become a member of an exclusive club. Only seven other authors have reached this e-book milestone including Millennium Trilogy author Steig Larson, prolific crime writer James Patterson and Charlaine Harris with her True Blood: Sookie Stackhouse Series.

Locke decided to offer his titles at just $0.99 , significantly undercutting the average price of traditional publishing house titles, which average around $10, the bargain rice helping to create a steady fanbase for his Donovan Creed mystery series.

Locke’s success could very well be the first major step in opening the well guarded gates of publishing to the masses. Building his reputation by word of mouth without the help or publicity from a publisher, Locke has now put his practical knowledge to good use by penning an advice guide called ‘How I Sold 1 Million e-books in 5 Months’. With thousands of budding authors in the world, Locke’s latest title is sure to become another title to add to his best seller list.

* Not to be confused with the philosopher or the Lost character

Happy Independent Booksellers Week!

Howdy booklovers!

This week is independent booksellers week and ReaditRibbit would like to celebrate this fact with a salute to all independent booksellers who are still going strong and flying the flag for bookselling. Huzzah!

Up and down the country, independent bookshops will be holding events and generally encouraging and sharing their love of reading.

As part of the celebrations, we’re inviting you to share with us your favourite independent bookshops. Is there a hidden gem in a town near you that you want to give a bit of publicity too? What do you love most about your local bookshop? Let us know, leave a comment below.

The Tiger's Wife Wins Orange Prize 2011

The winner of the 2011 Orange Prize was announced this week as The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht.

The debut novel of the Serbian/American author, The Tiger’s Wife beat Emma Donoghue’s Room (the favourite to win) to the title and has made Obreht the youngest winner of the prize across its sixteen year history. Obreht has previously been named as one of the New Yorker magazine’s Top Twenty writers under forty.

Pulling together a series of stories around Natalia, a Doctor who has just lost her grandfather and set in the Balkans, the book links the story of an escaped tiger who pays nocturnal visits to a village and a search for a so called ‘deathless man’.

Judging panel chair, Bettany Hughes, described the book as ‘exceptional’:

‘By skilfully spinning a series of magical tales she has managed to bring the tragedy of chronic Balkan conflict thumping into our front rooms with a bittersweet vivacity. The book reminds us how easily we can slip into barbarity, but also of the breadth and depth of human love.’

Obreht is still digesting the win, stating in an interview with the Guardian that ‘I don’t feel like I’ve earned it karmically’. Publisher Orion have announced that they have received ‘five figures’ worth of orders for the title and are anticipating healthy sales numbers for the paperback, which, according to the Bookseller, should be available from the 23^rd of June.

The annual Orange Prize of £30,000 is awarded for the best novel written in English by a female author, published within the last year.

EDIT 4TH NOVEMBER 2011:
ReaditRibbit has moved! Check out the new blog here

HMV Group Sells Waterstones

Photo by ell brown under Creative Commons License

The sale of high street book chain Waterstones by the HMV Group was announced on Friday morning (20th May). The A&NN group, run by Russian entrepreneur Alexander Mamut, has bought the chain of 296 stores in a £53 million deal. Contrary to previous rumours, founder of the chain, Tim Waterstone, has not been mentioned as having any part in the deal.

In a further shake up of the running of the store, current M.D. Dominic Meyers, is stepping down to take a new role within the HMV Group and being replaced by James Daunt, owner of the popular, London based group of shops, Daunt Books. Daunt is known for his views on maintaining the individuality of stores and for a refusal to enter into price discounting wars. Many see Daunts appointment to Waterstones as the start of a change in direction for the chain that will strengthen the brand despite the troubles the industry is currently facing.

Statistics suggest that Waterstones has been feeling the pinch with total sales growth down 4% on the 30^th of April 2011 for the previous year. In the first quarter of the year, like for like sales have been down 8.4%.  

The sale of the chain brings hope for the 4,500 members of staff and for the struggling HMV Group, who have described the sale as ‘an important step in the Group's strategy to reduce its borrowing requirements and facilitate the refinancing of its existing bank facility and ensure that the remaining Group is in a stronger position to meet the current challenges facing the business’. 

 

Mr Mamut has released a statement about his purchase saying,

“We are extremely pleased to have reached an agreement to acquire Waterstones and its great heritage. I believe that our investment and strategy will secure a dynamic future for the UK’s largest bookshop chain and I look forward to working with its booksellers in building on the principle of excellent bookselling which is at the very heart of the business.”

Richard and Judy Summer Book Club Titles Announced

Photo by hinnamsaisuy courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

As the days get warmer, most people’s minds begin to drift towards the promise of a summer holiday. With the possibility of days spent languishing pool side or on the beach, a good book can make all the difference to alleviating the inevitable boredom.  Looking up and down the beach at your fellow sun loungers, you may see patterns emerging in their chosen reading material. The chances are a lot of the books you’ve repeatedly spied are one of the eight titles handpicked by the British book world’s answer to Simon Cowell, Richard Madely and Judy Finnigan.

Still a major player on the high street despite the loss of the televised show, the Richard and Judy Book Club has helped sell millions of books and kick started the careers of their chosen authors. Now run exclusively in partnership with WH Smith, the Richard and Judy book club has picked out eight new titles for the 2011 holiday season. The chosen titles have been hand picked to provide a variety of styles and genres and are available in all bookshops.

Richard and Judy Book Club Summer 2011

When God was a Rabbit- Sarah Winman

The Confessions of Katherine Howard- Suzannah Dunn

The Death Instinct –Jed Rubenfield

The Novel in the Viola- Natasha Solomons

The Poison Tree- Erin Kelly

The Return of Captain John Emmet –Elizabeth Speller

Every Last One – Anna Quindlen

The Summer of the Bear – Bella Pollen

The Meowmorphosis

Remind me again: Is it Kafka or Katka? *

Quirk Classics have done it again. From the publishers who brought you Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Android Karenina comes a reworking of the Franz Kafka classic, Metamorphosis.

The Quirk version is cuddlier than Kafka’s, with the transformation of salesman Gregor Samsa into ‘an adorable kitten’ as opposed to Kafka’s monstrous beetle. 

The book isn’t out until May the 10^th but, like its predecessors, it is already creating a stir, mainly due to the challenge of reworking Kafka into humorous, light-hearted prose.

Quirk have really taken a shine to the latest trends of using both video campaigns and social networking sites to increase the profile of their classic ‘monster mash-up’ books.  To get you in the mood for its general release, you can watch the ‘book trailer’ for The Meowmorphosis below. 

* Image by Kevin Dooley under Creative Commons license

Oddest Book Title Announced

Picture by Photostock  * 

The winner of 2011’s Oddest Book Title prize was announced at the end of March.

Managing a Dental Practice the Genghis Khan Way, by Michael R Young, was duly awarded the prize after Bookseller readers gave 58% of their votes to the unique guide on managing a dental practice.

Previous winners of the prize include Living with Crazy Buttocks, Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers and Highlights in the History of Concrete.

* Courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Le Carré Turns Down Booker

Photo by  nuttakit via freedigitalphotos.net

The Man Booker International Prize finalist list was announced today and the prestigious award has already been plunged into controversy.

Finalist John le Carré , best known for his spy and espionage books including The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, has asked to be withdrawn from consideration for the bi annual award.

In a statement released earlier today, le Carré said, ‘I am enormously flattered to be named as a finalist for the  2011 Man Booker International prize. However, I do not compete for literary prizes and have therefore asked for my name to be withdrawn.’

Awarded every two years since its creation in 2005 to a living author whose work is readily available in the English language, the winner, chosen at the discretion of the judging panel, receives a £60,000 prize.

Chair of this year’s judging panel, Rick Gekoski, has politely declined his request.

‘John le Carré's name will, of course, remain on the list.’ He said. ‘We are disappointed that he wants to withdraw from further consideration because we are great admirers of his work.’

The winner of the prize will be announced at the Sydney Writer’s Festival on the 18^th of May with the ceremony being held in London this June.

Man Booker International Finalist List 2011

•   Wang Ani
•  Juan Goytisolo
•  James Kelman
•  John le Carré
•  Amin Maalouf
•  David Malouf
•  Daci Maraini
•  Rohinton Mistry 
• Philip Pullman
• Marilynne Robinson  
• Philip Roth  
• Su Tong
• Anne Tyler