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.