Man Booker Prize in the Frankfurt Book Fair spotlight
The leading literary award in the English-speaking world, The Man Booker Prize, will be in the spotlight at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair (19-23 October). Ahead of the announcement of this year’s winner on 25 October, the Book Fair will host three key literary events to help celebrate the finest fiction written in English today. Since 1969, the Man Booker Prize has brought recognition, reward and readership to outstanding new novels each year.
05 Oct 2016 | 4350 Views | By Dibyajyoti Sarma
The 2016 winner will be chosen from a shortlist of six novels, with the author of winning title receiving a cheque for £50,000.
Literary director of the Booker Prize Foundation, Gaby Wood, said: “We’re delighted to be celebrating the authors shortlisted for this year’s Man Booker Prize at Frankfurt Book Fair. The Prize is open to all novelists writing in English; as such, it is a truly global award, and there is no better forum for the international exchange of literary ideas than Frankfurt.”
Three high-profile events, all taking place in Frankfurt on 19 October, will discuss the importance of this prestigious award and will shine a light on this year’s contenders. Firstly, in the morning Gaby Wood will conduct a one-on-one interview with one of the shortlisted authors in the Reading Tent in the Agora. The shortlisted authors are – Paul Beatty (The Sellout); Deborah Levy (Hot Milk); Graeme Macrae Burnet (His Bloody Project); Ottessa Moshfegh (Eileen); David Szalay (All That Man Is); and Madeleine Thien (Do Not Say We Have Nothing).
In the Business Club in Hall 4.0 that lunchtime, a panel of experts – including Gaby Wood – will be discussing how literature prizes influence the book market and how winning one of these top awards can lead to exponential growth in terms of book sales, and unexpected financial reward. And finally, on the Publishing Perspectives Stage in Hall 6.0 in the early afternoon, Frankfurt Book Fair Director Juergen Boos will be chatting to Gaby Wood about why she thinks The Man Booker Prize attracts such a flurry of international media attention, and why literary prizes are so hotly-contested nowadays.
Boos said, “The industry buzz around who will be the winner of the 2016 Man Booker Prize will be reaching its peak during Frankfurt week, and so the timing of these events couldn’t be better. There is no doubt that The Man Booker is very special award, recognised globally as one of the most coveted. Where better place for publishing professionals to start these business conversations than at the Frankfurt Book Fair.”