Tan Twan Eng Shortlisted for 2012 Man Booker Prize for The Garden of Evening Mists
Alert! Cape Town-based writer Tan Twan Eng has been shortlisted for this year’s Man Booker Prize for his second novel, The Garden of Evening Mists, following a press conference at the Man Group headquarters in London today. This is Twan’s first time on the prestigious shortlist, having been longlisted in 2007 for his debut novel, The Gift of Rain.
The news first reached us via Matthew Cain, Culture Editor for Channel 4 News, who was present at the announcement:
Shortlist for 2012 @manbookerprize just out! Tan Twan Eng, Deborah Levy, Hilary Mantel, Alison Moore, Will Self and Jeet Thayil…
— Matthew Cain (@MatthewCainC4) September 11, 2012
#ManBookerPrize shortlist: The Garden of Evening Mists, Swimming Home, Bring up the Bodies, The Lighthouse, Umbrella, & Narcopolis
— Man Booker Prize (@ManBookerPrize) September 11, 2012
Joining Twan on the shortlist of six are Deborah Levy (Swimming Home), Hilary Mantel (Bring up the Bodies), Alison Moore (The Lighthouse), Will Self (Umbrella), Jeet Thayil (Narcopolis). According to Chair of Judges Peter Stothard, the shortlist, whittled down from a longlist of 12, was chosen based on the “pure power of prose”.
Each of the six shortlisted writers will be awarded £2 500 and a unique handbound edition of his/her book. The winner of the £50 000 prize, won last year by Julian Barnes for The Sense of an Ending, will be announced on 16 October at a gala dinner at London’s Guildhall.
Congratulations to all the shortlistees and especially to Twan!
And finally the secrets out…our judges breath a sigh of relief twitter.com/ManBookerPrize…
— Man Booker Prize (@ManBookerPrize) September 11, 2012
Press Release:
The six books were chosen by a panel of judges chaired by Sir Peter Stothard, Editor of the Times Literary Supplement. The shortlisted books were selected from the longlist of 12 announced in July.
The shortlist is:
Author, Title (Publisher)
Tan Twan Eng, The Garden of Evening Mists (Myrmidon Books)
Deborah Levy, Swimming Home (And Other Stories/Faber & Faber)
Hilary Mantel, Bring up the Bodies (Fourth Estate)
Alison Moore, The Lighthouse (Salt)
Will Self, Umbrella (Bloomsbury)
Jeet Thayil, Narcopolis (Faber & Faber)
Peter Stothard, Chair of judges, comments: “After re-reading an extraordinary longlist of twelve, it was the pure power of prose that settled most debates. We loved the shock of language shown in so many different ways and were exhilarated by the vigour and vividly defined values in the six books that we chose – and in the visible confidence of the novel’s place in forming our words and ideas.”
The 2012 shortlist includes two debut novels, three small independent publishers, two former shortlisted authors and one previous winner. Of the six writers, three are men and three are women; four are British, one Indian and one Malaysian.
The winner of the 2012 prize will be announced at a dinner at London’s Guildhall on Tuesday 16 October, in a ceremony covered by the BBC. Each of the six shortlisted writers is awarded £2,500 and a specially commissioned beautifully handbound edition of his/her book. The winner receives a further £50,000.
Peter Stothard is joined on the 2012 Man Booker Prize for Fiction judging panel by: Dinah Birch, academic and literary critic; Amanda Foreman, historian, writer and broadcaster; Dan Stevens, actor and Bharat Tandon, academic, writer and reviewer.
2012 marks the 44th year of the prize, which began in 1969. A full history of the prize, including an interactive timeline, can be found on the Man Booker Prize website – www.themanbookerprize.com – which has just been re-launched, allowing visitors to experience the prize across a variety of new platforms and formats.
News about the prize can also be found on Twitter @ManBookerPrize, which now boasts over 17,000 followers.
For further information about the prize please visit www.themanbookerprize.com or follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook
Ends
Book details
- The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
Book homepage
EAN: 9781905802623
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- Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
EAN: 9780007315093
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- The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
EAN: 9781907773174
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- Umbrella by Will Self
EAN: 9781408820148
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- Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil
EAN: 9780571275762
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- Swimming Home by Deborah Levy
EAN: 9780571299607
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