They're announcing the longlist for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction on 25 July -- next Wednesday -- and so there's been a bit of speculation about what the list will look like.
Since they disappointingly cut down the longlist to a mandated 'Man Booker Dozen' -- twelve or thirteen titles -- in 2007 at least the number of titles to consider is predictable. (Recall that before then there was apparently no limit, and the years 2001 (when it was still just the Booker) through 2006 saw longlists of 24 (!), 20, 23, 22, 17, and 19 respectively. Ah, the good old days .....)
Yesterday, Canongate Books publisher Jamie Byng tweeted that:
In previous years judges have ... made claims that turned out to be higher than the actual totals, so 145 titles shouldn't be considered the official tally yet, but if true it would be an all-time high, as best I can tell. Given the Man Booker's absurd limits on submissions (publishers are limited to two titles each, though titles can be called in; books by previous winners and previously shortlisted authors may also be submitted without counting against the publisher-quota), that's an extraordinary number -- the highest on record, as far as I can tell (and seven more than in each of the past two years). What we don't know, however, is how many of those titles were called in.
The total number of books in the running for the prize, and the number of these that were 'called in' (i.e, not submitted by the publishers) since 2001 are:
I take this opportunity also to raise my greatest objection to the Man Booker Prize: that they do not reveal the names of the titles in the running for the prize
I find this completely inexplicable (well, sure, I understand: publishers love it (and insist on it), because this way they can lie to many, many of their authors and claim they submitted their books without doing so -- but that's hardly a good or honorable reason (yes, yes, I know: we're talking publishers here: 'good' ? 'honorable' ? 'professional' ? that's all far too much to ask or expect), and I'm stunned this prize is taken as seriously as it is, given that we don't know what books are actually considered for the prize. (With the longlist reduced to a mere twelve or thirteen, that -- along with the few should-be-automatically-submitted (the latest by previous winners and previously shortlisted authors) -- it's a very small percentage of the total submitted (and called-in) titles that are ever made public.)
There don't seem to be too many longlist-predictions out there yet. Among the few:
- At the official site's discussion forum there's a Man Booker 2012 Longlist - Predictions ? thread -- pretty feeble so far
- At Stuart Evers' Dirty/Realistic weblog he offers Booker longlist predictions
- Winstonsdad's Blog also offers Booker longlist 2012 guesses (though note that at least one of them is wrong: Shehan Karunatilaka's Chinaman's April 2011 UK publication date meant it was eligible last year, but not this one)
Of some interest and use is the goodreads Man Booker Prize Eligible 2012 list, which at least gives you an idea of what books might be in the running. (I haven't vetted this list, so no guarantees that all these titles are, in fact, eligible.) Interesting to note, however, that as of this writing the list only comes to 140 titles -- five short of the number the Man Booker judges apparently considered .....
Having barely seen, much less read any of the eligible titles, I'm in no position to make any guesses beyond the gut feeling ones (Banville, yes; Amis -- though I doubt they bothered submitting it, taking their chances on it getting called in (which I can't imagine it was) -- no, etc.).
(See also the index of Man Booker Prize for Fiction-winning works under review at the complete review.)
Since they disappointingly cut down the longlist to a mandated 'Man Booker Dozen' -- twelve or thirteen titles -- in 2007 at least the number of titles to consider is predictable. (Recall that before then there was apparently no limit, and the years 2001 (when it was still just the Booker) through 2006 saw longlists of 24 (!), 20, 23, 22, 17, and 19 respectively. Ah, the good old days .....)
Yesterday, Canongate Books publisher Jamie Byng tweeted that:
Peter Stoddart, the chair of the Man Booker judges this year, said they had 145 novels to read. Sadly he was otherwise way too discrete![Much as one wants to make allowances for tweets, it's difficult for me not to express dumbfounded wonder that the head of a major UK publisher, who presumably has (had ?) some titles in the running for this prize neither spells the Times Literary Supplement editor and Man Booker chair of the judges Peter Stothard's name (even close to ...) correctly, nor uses the correct (spelling of) discreet ..... Despairing of the publishing industry in general, I'm trying my best not to read anything into that.]
In previous years judges have ... made claims that turned out to be higher than the actual totals, so 145 titles shouldn't be considered the official tally yet, but if true it would be an all-time high, as best I can tell. Given the Man Booker's absurd limits on submissions (publishers are limited to two titles each, though titles can be called in; books by previous winners and previously shortlisted authors may also be submitted without counting against the publisher-quota), that's an extraordinary number -- the highest on record, as far as I can tell (and seven more than in each of the past two years). What we don't know, however, is how many of those titles were called in.
The total number of books in the running for the prize, and the number of these that were 'called in' (i.e, not submitted by the publishers) since 2001 are:
| Year | Total | 'Called in' |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 138 | 7 |
| 2010 | 138 | 14 |
| 2009 | 132 | 11 |
| 2008 | 112 | 9 |
| 2007 | 92 | 18 |
| 2006 | 112 | 17 |
| 2005 | 109 | 8 |
| 2004 | 132 | 17 |
| 2003 | 117 | 10 |
| 2002 | 130 | 12 |
| 2001 | 119 | 17 |
I take this opportunity also to raise my greatest objection to the Man Booker Prize: that they do not reveal the names of the titles in the running for the prize
I find this completely inexplicable (well, sure, I understand: publishers love it (and insist on it), because this way they can lie to many, many of their authors and claim they submitted their books without doing so -- but that's hardly a good or honorable reason (yes, yes, I know: we're talking publishers here: 'good' ? 'honorable' ? 'professional' ? that's all far too much to ask or expect), and I'm stunned this prize is taken as seriously as it is, given that we don't know what books are actually considered for the prize. (With the longlist reduced to a mere twelve or thirteen, that -- along with the few should-be-automatically-submitted (the latest by previous winners and previously shortlisted authors) -- it's a very small percentage of the total submitted (and called-in) titles that are ever made public.)
There don't seem to be too many longlist-predictions out there yet. Among the few:
- At the official site's discussion forum there's a Man Booker 2012 Longlist - Predictions ? thread -- pretty feeble so far
- At Stuart Evers' Dirty/Realistic weblog he offers Booker longlist predictions
- Winstonsdad's Blog also offers Booker longlist 2012 guesses (though note that at least one of them is wrong: Shehan Karunatilaka's Chinaman's April 2011 UK publication date meant it was eligible last year, but not this one)
Of some interest and use is the goodreads Man Booker Prize Eligible 2012 list, which at least gives you an idea of what books might be in the running. (I haven't vetted this list, so no guarantees that all these titles are, in fact, eligible.) Interesting to note, however, that as of this writing the list only comes to 140 titles -- five short of the number the Man Booker judges apparently considered .....
Having barely seen, much less read any of the eligible titles, I'm in no position to make any guesses beyond the gut feeling ones (Banville, yes; Amis -- though I doubt they bothered submitting it, taking their chances on it getting called in (which I can't imagine it was) -- no, etc.).
(See also the index of Man Booker Prize for Fiction-winning works under review at the complete review.)