Richard Flanagan wins Man Booker Prize

The Man Booker Prize 2014 for fiction was awarded to Australian author Richard Flanagan, for his novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Flanagan’s book centers around the themes of love and war. It is set in the background of World War II, in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. Flanagan worked on the novel for 12 years, and wrote five different versions before settling on the final one. The book is inspired by the personal experiences of Flanagan’s father, who was a prisoner-of-war.

Richard Flanagan

Flanagan was born in Tasmania in July 1961. He is the third Australian to win the Man Booker Prize. Flanagan’s previous novels, Death of a River Guide, The Sound of One Hand Clapping, Gould’s Book of Fish, The Unknown Terrorist and Wanting have been published in 26 countries.
Flanagan also directed a movie title The Sound Of One Hand Clapping in 1998.

Nominations

The Man Booker formulates a longlist, from which a shortlist is further made, finally leading to one winner. The other nominations in the shortlist in 2014 were How to be Both by Ali Smith, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler, The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris and J by Howard Jacobson.

Judging process

The selection process for the winner begins with the formation of an advisory committee comprising of a writer, two publishers, a literary agent, a bookseller, a librarian, and a chairperson appointed by the Booker Prize Foundation. This committee then selects the judging panel, whose membership changes every year. Judges are selected from literary critics, writers, academics and leading public figures.
This year, the Prize was chaired by A.C.Grayling. The judges this year were Jonathan Bate, Sarah Churchwell,  Alastair Niven, Daniel Glaser and Erica Wagner.

Man Booker Prize

The Man Booker Prize is a literary award given to the best original novel in English, that has been published in the UK.  It is presented by the Man Group, which is a British alternative investment management business. The Booker Prize was first awarded in 1969. It is generally presented in Guildhall, London. The award is open to all authors of English books, regardless of their nationalities.

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2014

Category: Awards, Honours & Persons in News