Join the new Booker Prize Book Club – and win tickets to our ceremony
Plus: Max Liu explains how the Booker has always championed debut authors; and listen to our interview with the twice-nominated Graeme Macrae Burnet in the new episode of The Booker Prize Podcast
We launch a new online community for book lovers around the world
With just one week to go until we announce this year’s Booker Prize shortlist, we are today launching our brand new Booker Prize Book Club, a unique online community for readers to discuss and find out more about the six books in contention for the world’s most influential prize for a single work of fiction.
Hosted as a Facebook Group, the Book Club will be a space for readers all over the world to share their views, to access Booker Prize exclusives, to help us interview the shortlisted authors and to win a range of prizes, including tickets to our winner ceremony in London this November.
Each week we will be focusing on a different book from the shortlist, and we would like you to tell us what you think of each book by submitting written reviews of individual titles, or video reviews. The Book Club members who post our favourite written review and video review will each win a pair of tickets to the winner ceremony in London on November 26 (travel expenses and accommodation not included).
More information about how to submit reviews and author questions, as well as the terms and conditions for our competition, will be posted within the Book Club very soon. Sign up now, for free – we can’t wait to see you all there!
How the Booker Prize has always celebrated debut novels – and why it matters
There are few experiences more exciting for readers than discovering a great first novel – and a new favourite novelist – and Booker Prize judges have been attuned to this from the start. The prize’s commitment to championing debut fiction dates back to its inaugural shortlist, when Barry England’s first novel Figures in a Landscape was among the six nominees in 1969. The first debut novel to win was The Bone People by New Zealander Keri Hulme in 1985 and there have been five more since then, as the Booker has continued to help new writers reach readers who may otherwise have missed their work.
Four of the 13 novels up for the Booker Prize in 2023 are debuts, one more than in 2022. Reading the works of Jonathan Escoffery, Siân Hughes, Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow and Chetna Maroo, it’s immediately clear to readers that they are encountering a fresh, assured and distinctive voice that is going to show them something they have not seen before.
The Booker Prize Podcast: An interview with Graeme Macrae Burnet
This week, The Booker Prize Podcast revisits our September Book of the Month – His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet. The mesmerising thriller tells the story of a fictional 19th-century triple murder in a remote crofting community. The novel was shortlisted for the 2016 Booker Prize, and while Paul Beatty’s The Sellout took home the award that year, His Bloody Project remained the bestseller of the bunch until the winner was announced.
Here, Graeme Macrae Burnet joins Jo Hamya and James Walton to chat about the inspirations behind His Bloody Project, what it was like to be nominated for the prize again with Case Study in 2022 – and what we can expect from him next.
Just one week to go…
In just seven days’ time, on Thursday, September 21, the shortlist for the Booker Prize 2023 will finally be revealed at an event at the newly re-opened National Portrait Gallery in London. Remember to set your alarms and join our live stream, which will take place from 7.45pm (BST) on all of our social channels.
Which books and authors are you hoping to see on this year’s Booker Prize shortlist? We’d love to hear which longlisted books you’ve enjoyed – let us know in the comments below.
Very much enjoyed Pearl by Sian Hughes. A great new talent!
I am rooting for Sian Hughes Pearl .