Booker Prize announces 2020 judges
The Booker Prize has announced judges for the 2020 award which includes Margaret Busby (as chair), editor, literary critic and former publisher, author and critic Sameer Rahim, writer and broadcaster Lemn Sissay; and classicist and translator Emily Wilson. Gaby Wood, Literary Director of the Booker Prize Foundation, said: “Judging the Booker Prize is a collective […]
The Booker Prize has announced judges for the 2020 award which includes Margaret Busby (as chair), editor, literary critic and former publisher, author and critic Sameer Rahim, writer and broadcaster Lemn Sissay; and classicist and translator Emily Wilson.
Gaby Wood, Literary Director of the Booker Prize Foundation, said: “Judging the Booker Prize is a collective act of investigation and understanding: seeking the best in new fiction and being receptive to its many possibilities. This year’s five judges are, in engagingly different ways, expert readers of the world. Their powers of perception have broken barriers in their respective fields, and I’m looking forward to knowing what their minds will find when they join forces.”
Margaret Busby adds that “For more than half a century the Booker Prize has saluted brilliant and thought-provoking writing. I am honoured and delighted by this challenging opportunity to contribute to the judging process alongside such a great panel.”
The judging panel will be looking for the best work of long-form fiction, selected from entries published in the United Kingdom between October 1 2019 and September 30 2020.
The 2019 Booker Prize for Fiction was won jointly by ‘The Testaments’ by Margaret Atwood and ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ by Bernardine Evaristo. In the week following the announcement, sales of ‘The Testaments’ rose from 11,955 to 13,400 copies while ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ sold 5,980 copies, more than double its lifetime sales up to that point and a 1,340% increase week on week. The morning after she won the prize, Evaristo’s American publisher announced that the book would come out in the US a month earlier than previously scheduled and that it was publishing 50,000 copies, up from an initial run of 10,000. TV rights have now been sold, as well as translation rights for the novel in 21 territories.
The ‘Booker Dozen’ of 12 or 13 books will be announced in July 2020 and the shortlist of six books in September. The winner of the £50,000 prize will be announced on October 27 2020 at London’s Guildhall.
The Booker Prize is sponsored by Crankstart, a charitable foundation.