Marlon James wins 2015 Man Brraper Prize
So, in the end there was no need for any more brute-force
voting, the judges went out all guns blazing, and unanimously
awarded the £50,000 Man Booker Prize to the “very exciting, very violent, full
of swearing” A
Brief History of Seven Killings, and Marlon James has become the first Jamaican-born winner. At
686 pages, A Brief History of Seven Killings is also one of the longest winners, continuing the trend towards
hulking tomes – much to Salman Rushdie’s chagrin: "Just as I start writing
short books, long books are in. My days of long books are over" he told The
Telegraph last week.
"Someone said
to me they like to give Booker winners to their mother to read, but this might
be a little difficult" Michael Wood, chair of this year’s judges, admitted.
Yes, but on the other hand it might be the perfect Christmas present for your Gangsta
Granny. After hearing Nonesuch
Book blogger Frances on The
Readers’ Man Booker Podcast,
and Sarah Churchwell on the BBC News channel coverage, both champion A Brief
History of Seven Killings I was not surprised it won, it sounds like a literary
box of fireworks.
So that’s Booker 2015 over. It’s been emotional.
Now let’s take a quick peek at 2016.
The longlist for the new-style Man Booker International Prize will be announced in March, the shortlist in April and the
winner in May. There is already a list of possible candidates for that on goodreads,
and I have just initiated the Man
Booker Prize Eligible 2016 list there as well.
Big names vying to be
snubbed in favour of “new
voices and younger writers" next year include: Julian Barnes, Don
DeLillo, Hilary Mantel, Zadie Smith, and maybe even the long-awaited sequel to
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. There may even be a bit of Cauliflower®
in the Booker stew.
Now it's time for this blog to go back into hibernation.
posted by PJE @ 12:21 PM
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