"Women dominate Britain's Booker prize shortlist" By Paul Majendie
Women dominate Britain's Booker prize shortlist
By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - Women writers and first time novelists dominated
the shortlist announced Tuesday for the Booker Prize with bookmakers
divided on who would win one of the world's most prestigious literary
awards for fiction.
Canada's Margaret Atwood, already a Booker winner three years ago,
vied for favorite with first time novelist Monica Ali to land the
50,000 pound ($80,000) prize on Oct. 14 and achieve instant success
in bestseller lists around the globe.
"This has been David's year and not Goliath's," said literary critic
John Carey, head of the judges who picked a short-list of six for
what invariably turns into an entertaining literary horse race every
year.
"We have three first novels and only one big name left," he said of
the list after working through 117 books from Britain, Ireland and
the Commonwealth.
Bookmaker William Hill made Atwood the 2-1 favorite for her science
fiction saga "Oryx and Crake," which Carey compared to George
Orwell's "1984" and Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World."
The other main bookmaker, Ladbrokes, picked as their 2-1
favorite "Brick Lane" by Monica Ali, who moved to Britain from
Bangladesh as a young child and takes her birthplace as the setting
for her debut novel.
British columnist Zoe Heller, who lives in New York, made the coveted last six with "Notes on a Scandal" about a schoolteacher who has an affair with an underage pupil.
The fourth woman in the list -- there have never been that many in
the 35-year history of the Booker -- is Clare Morrall for "Astonishing Splashes of Colour" about a woman's agony over
childlessness.
D.B.C. Pierre wrote about a Texan serial killer in "Vernon God
Little" and the list was completed by Damon Galgut's "The Good
Doctor," which tells about the blinding lack of understanding between blacks and whites in South Africa.
Carey, who last chaired the Booker judges when Thomas Keneally won
with "Schindler's List," said, "The standard was pretty high but we
thought the big names this year did not produce the big books."
South Africa's hotly fancied dual Booker winner J.M. Coetzee
with "Elizabeth Costell" and Britain's controversial novelist Martin
Amis with "Yellow Dog" were left out.
The judges' selection regularly sparks a storm of protest with
critics claiming obscure books win out over popular novels.
But last year Canadian author Yann Martel's "Life of Pi" proved a
huge success, selling over one million copies.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited.
By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - Women writers and first time novelists dominated
the shortlist announced Tuesday for the Booker Prize with bookmakers
divided on who would win one of the world's most prestigious literary
awards for fiction.
Canada's Margaret Atwood, already a Booker winner three years ago,
vied for favorite with first time novelist Monica Ali to land the
50,000 pound ($80,000) prize on Oct. 14 and achieve instant success
in bestseller lists around the globe.
"This has been David's year and not Goliath's," said literary critic
John Carey, head of the judges who picked a short-list of six for
what invariably turns into an entertaining literary horse race every
year.
"We have three first novels and only one big name left," he said of
the list after working through 117 books from Britain, Ireland and
the Commonwealth.
Bookmaker William Hill made Atwood the 2-1 favorite for her science
fiction saga "Oryx and Crake," which Carey compared to George
Orwell's "1984" and Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World."
The other main bookmaker, Ladbrokes, picked as their 2-1
favorite "Brick Lane" by Monica Ali, who moved to Britain from
Bangladesh as a young child and takes her birthplace as the setting
for her debut novel.
British columnist Zoe Heller, who lives in New York, made the coveted last six with "Notes on a Scandal" about a schoolteacher who has an affair with an underage pupil.
The fourth woman in the list -- there have never been that many in
the 35-year history of the Booker -- is Clare Morrall for "Astonishing Splashes of Colour" about a woman's agony over
childlessness.
D.B.C. Pierre wrote about a Texan serial killer in "Vernon God
Little" and the list was completed by Damon Galgut's "The Good
Doctor," which tells about the blinding lack of understanding between blacks and whites in South Africa.
Carey, who last chaired the Booker judges when Thomas Keneally won
with "Schindler's List," said, "The standard was pretty high but we
thought the big names this year did not produce the big books."
South Africa's hotly fancied dual Booker winner J.M. Coetzee
with "Elizabeth Costell" and Britain's controversial novelist Martin
Amis with "Yellow Dog" were left out.
The judges' selection regularly sparks a storm of protest with
critics claiming obscure books win out over popular novels.
But last year Canadian author Yann Martel's "Life of Pi" proved a
huge success, selling over one million copies.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited.