Nothing says current like choosing for a title a now semi-obscure but formally wide spread catch phrase from a cop show that went off the air 35 years ago (The original Hawaii 5-0: 1968 -1980)

Lately it seems like everywhere I look, things are turning up Booker.  The literary prize formerly awarded to a work of fiction written by anyone from the Commonwealth, Ireland or Zimbabwe, but as of this year (much to the dismay of many) it is a free for all open to anyone who writes in English… i.e. The Americans are now eligible (because the Pen/Faulkner, Pulitzer and National Book award aren’t enough for them I guess). Canadian authors have won three times, Margaret Atwood (The Blind Assassin) , Micheal Ondaatje (The English Patient) and Yann Martel (Life of Pi) …and if I’m not being a stickler, I could include Eleanor Catton (The Luminaries) who was born in Canada before moving to New Zealand at age 6.

Officially (and often reluctantly) called the Man Booker Prize since 2002 when the Man Group took over sponsorship of what had up to that point been called The Booker Prize ever since the Booker food wholesale distributors got behind the award in 1968…but most of the time it’s just called the Booker. And it is one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world with the winning author raking in a cool £50,000 plus a real boost in sales and raised profile going to the winner.  In keeping with the way this post is all over the place, on the right  is an odd jumbled list of past winners.

In the last couple months I’ve gone to see two Booker winners give talks as they toured the area.  In May, the 2007 winner Anne Enright (The Gathering) spoke at the Toronto Public Library and in April the most recent recipient Richard Flanagan (The Narrow Road to the Deep North) was at Harbourfront’s International Festival of Authors.  If I had been more on top of things, the month before that 1989’s winner Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day) also gave a talk down town but sadly I wasn’t clued in on time to see him.   Oh, and since I started writing this a few weeks ago, I learned another winner will be appearing in Toronto.  Salman Rushdie who won three times (that’s right! Three Times!)  for Midnight’s Children, firstly upon the book’s publication and then again in 1993 for a special 25th anniversary of prize sometimes called the Best of the Booker and then AGAIN (just to complete the hat trick) in 2008 for a 40^th anniversary Best of the Booker prize.  Not bad for one title.

A couple weeks ago at Value Village I was lucky enough to find a signed first edition of The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje’s 1992 winner.   In the middle of all this, I happen to read a book by two time nominee, one time winner John Banville.

Of all the winning books I’ve only managed to read a few,  Possession, God Vernon Little,  The Remains of the Day, Disgrace, The Sea, The Gathering  and one of my all-time favourite books Graham Swift’s  Last Orders…all them worth your while.  Like most awards, there is generally some contention about the winners, the quality of nominees, the relevance of it in general; but It seems like the 90s were a bit of a dark time for evaluating the Booker nominees/winners..with one judge calling The God of Small Things “inexorable” and The Sea (which I thought was great) as being “possibly the most perverse decision in the history of the award”, in the year that The Last Orders won,  judge A.L. Kennedy disparaged the prize describing it thusly ” “a pile of crooked nonsense” with the winner determined by “who knows who, who’s sleeping with who, who’s selling drugs to who, who’s married to who, whose turn it is.”   Probably there is a bit of truth to that although hopefully exaggerated (maybe??).   Here we see a photo of the Booker awards gala. Sure, it looks elegant enough but with this much ego in one (very fancy) ballroom you can imagine the results.  But as a side note I do find it pretty entertaining when the literati trash talk one another.  A great example of this behaviour can be seen in a soon to be released documentary about Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr. The Best of Enemies – written about here: .   Watch the famous (or is that notorious?) black and white video clip inserted in the article. It’s got some blue language but the entertainment value is through the roof. Hopefully upon its release the library will add it to the collection.

Here’s one last bit of interesting Booker related miscellanea..Slow Journalism’s magazine Delayed Gratification analysed all the winning books and came to the following conclusions. 

“By analysing data from 45 years of the Man Booker Prize, we discovered that – perhaps unsurprisingly – if you want to win, you’re best off as an Englishman in his fifties writing his fourth novel. Ticking those boxes and still no joy? Make your protagonist an Englishman too, set your story in the present day and begin your narrative in the third person and you’ve got a formula for success”

Winning a Booker Prize infographic from Delayed Gratification, the Slow Journalism magazine.
Click here for zoomable version.

 So this brings to and end a very selective and scatter-shot overview of the Booker. Keep your eyes open for 2015 Long List of nominees which will be announced on July 29.  The winner is crowned on October 13, 2015.