And the winner is…

The longlist of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2009 has just been published so it’s time to get down to some serious reading. There are thirteen titles on this list but by the 8th September that will be whittled down to about six. Then, on the 6th October, one lucky writer will have his/her name added to the select list of forty-two authors, all former Booker winners going back to when it started in 1968.

Which authors are considered?

The author must be a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland or Zimbabwe and the book must be an original full-length novel written in the English language.

How are novels included on the initial list of about 130 books?

* Each publisher’s imprint may submit two titles
* Previous winners are automatically included
* Also shortlisted authors from the last ten years
* Publishers can make written submissions for further entries

What is the prize?

* A cash prize of £50,000
* Having Booker Prize Winner printed across the cover of every future book
* A huge increase of sales and a place in literary history

The longlist for 2009 includes two former Booker Prize Winners, four former shortlisted authors, one ghost written autobiography of a Hollywood chimpanzee, three Irish writers, two first time novelists, and two novels that haven’t been even been published yet. Odds of 3/1 have been given to the novel that is really a thinly disguised autobiography of JM Coetzee but my favourite is The Glass Room by Simon Mawer. Who will win? I have absolutely no idea!

The Longlist:

* The Children's Book by AS Byatt
* Summertime by JM Coetze
* The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds
* How to paint a dead man by Sarah Hall
* The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey
* Me Cheeta by James Lever
* Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
* The Glass Room by Simon Mawer
* Not Untrue & Not Unkind by Ed O'Loughlin
* Heliopolis James by Scudamore
* Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
* Love and Summer by William Trevor
* The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Former winners:

2008 Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger India
2007 Anne Enright, The Gathering Ireland
2006 Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss India
2005 John Banville, The Sea Ireland
2004 Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty United Kingdom
2003 DBC Pierre, Vernon God Little Australia/Mexico
2002 Yann Martel, Life of Pi Canada
2001 Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang Australia
2000 Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin Canada
1999 J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace South Africa
1998 Ian McEwan , Amsterdam United Kingdom
1997 Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things India
1996 Graham Swift, Last Orders United Kingdom
1995 Pat Barker, The Ghost Road United Kingdom
1994 James Kelman, How Late It Was, How Late United Kingdom
1993 Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha Ireland
1992 Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient Sri Lanka/Canada
1992 Barry Unsworth, Sacred Hunger United Kingdom
1991 Ben Okri , The Famished Road Nigeria
1990 A. S. Byatt, Possession: A Romance United Kingdom
1989 Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day United Kingdom/Japan
1988 Peter Carey, Oscar and Lucinda Australia
1987 Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger United Kingdom
1986 Kingsley Amis, The Old Devils United Kingdom
1985 Keri Hulme, The Bone People New Zealand
1984 Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac United Kingdom
1983 J. M. Coetzee, Life & Times of Michael K South Africa
1982 Thomas Keneally, Schindler's Ark Australia
1981 Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children India/United Kingdom
1980 William Golding, Rites of Passage United Kingdom
1979 Penelope Fitzgerald, Offshore United Kingdom
1978 Iris Murdoch, The Sea, the Sea Ireland/United Kingdom
1977 Paul Scott, Staying On United Kingdom
1976 David Storey, Saville United Kingdom
1975 Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Heat and Dust United Kingdom/Germany
1974 Stanley Middleton, Holiday United Kingdom
1974 Nadine Gordimer, The Conservationist South Africa
1973 J. G. Farrell, The Siege of Krishnapur United Kingdom
1972 John Berger, G. United Kingdom
1971 V. S. Naipaul, In a Free State Trinidad & Tobago/UK
1970 Bernice Rubens, The Elected Member United Kingdom
1969 P. H. Newby, Something to Answer For United Kingdom