After whittling down a pile of 155 novels, the judges of the Man Booker Prize are set to unveil this year’s winner of a 50,000 sterling ($61,200) award that can have a “seismic” impact on a writer’s career.
The Man Booker is a key event in Britain’s cultural life. The winner will be announced live on television on Oct. 25.
It is one of the country’s biggest literary awards and can have a life-changing impact on writers’ sales and bank balances, reports Reuters.
“The impact is downright seismic. It does change your status as a writer and the money is fantastic,” Marlon James, who won in 2015 with “A Brief History of Seven Killings”, told Reuters.
“It does have an immense impact on sales. It made the top five of the New York Times bestseller list, which I don’t think it would have before.”
The five judges, who read all the submissions once and the long- and short-listed entries several times, are looking for the year’s best novel written in English and published in Britain.
This year’s shortlist includes works by three Britons, two Americans and a Canadian and the field is still wide open.
