Golden Man Booker Prize will crown the best from its 51 past winners
The Man Booker Prize, which ranks among the world's most prestigious literary prizes for English fiction, is putting its backlist of 51 winners in a one-off competition to determine which has stood the test of time.
Four Canadian books are in contention for what is being deemed the Golden Man Booker Prize:
- The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje, 1992 winner
- The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, 2000 winner
- Life of Pi by Yann Martel, 2002 winner
- The Luminaries by Canadian-born New Zealander Eleanor Catton, 2013 winner
Created in celebration of the prize's 50th anniversary, the Golden Man Booker Prize will be judged by a panel who will each read a decade's worth of winners: writer Robert McCrum will take on the 1970s, poet Lemn Sissay will read the 1980s, novelist Kamila Shamsie will look at the 1990s, novelist Simon Mayo will review the 2000s and poet Hollie McNish will be reading the 2010s.
Each judge will pick their favourite book from their assigned decade. The "Golden Five" shortlist will be announced on May 26, 2018. The judges will champion their books and then it's up to the public to decide the winner. A month-long voting process will take place from May 26 to June 25, with the overall winner declared at the Man Booker 50 Festival on July 8, 2018.
In 2008, the Booker Prize ran a Best of the Booker Award to celebrate its 40th anniversary. An online public vote resulted in Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children claiming the prize.