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"Booker Prize Won't Include U.S. Writers," an excerprt from The New York Times ,18 November 2002: A9 (by Alan Cowell): |
DATELINE: LONDON, Nov. 17
The organizers of the $75,000 annual Booker Prize, after nurturing a dispute over whether United States authors should compete for Britain's premier literary award, have agreed to maintain rules that permit only British, Commonwealth and Irish writers to compete, a spokeswoman said today.
But the organizers contemplate introducing a second prize -- to be awarded less frequently -- for lifetime literary achievement, and that could be open to Americans, said Dotti Irving, the spokeswoman. The Booker, now called the Man Booker to acknowledge its sponsorship by the Man group of hedge fund investors, is renowned for its public debates that seem to arise when public interest is flagging. Earlier this year, a brief storm swirled around assertions by the chief judge, Lisa Jardine, that British authors like Martin Amis or Ian McEwan would be at a disadvantage competing against American challengers like Philip Roth and Saul Bellow. At that time, the organizers were reported to be considering opening up the prize to Americans by 2004.
The prize achieved another flurry of attention after this year's winner, Yann Martel of Canada, acknowledged being inspired by an idea from a Brazilian author, Moacyr Scliar, when he wrote his award-winning novel, "Life of Pi," about a young man shipwrecked with a Bengal tiger.
The 34-year-old award -- Britain's equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize or the National Book Awards in the United States -- was staged this year with greater hoopla than previously, and the prize money was doubled. The judges also urged a break with what they termed "pompous, portentous and pretentious" fiction as they seek what has been termed more readable British fiction than some previous entries.
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