Man Booker Longlist Announced

The following 13 titles are in the running for this year's Man Booker Prize for Fiction:

Aravind Adiga - The White Tiger (9781843547204)
Gaynor Arnold - Girl in a Blue Dress (9780955647611)

Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture (9780571215287)

John Berger - From A to X (9781844672882)

Michelle de Kretser - The Lost Dog (9780701182106)

Amitav Ghosh - Sea of Poppies (9780719568954)

Linda Grant - The Clothes on Their Backs (9781844085415)

Mohammed Hanif - A Case of Exploding Mangoes (9780224082044)

Philip Hensher - The Northern Clemency (9780007174799)

Joseph O'Neill - Netherland (9780007269068)

Salman Rushdie - The Enchantress of Florence (9780224061636)

Tom Rob Smith - Child 44 (9781847371263)

Steve Toltz - A Fraction of the Whole (9780241143902)

Michael Portillo, Chair of judges said that the panel ‘are pleased with the geographical balance of the longlist with writers from Pakistan, India, Australia, Ireland and UK’ and that the ‘list covers an extraordinary variety of writing’

The shortlist will be announced on 9th September, and the winner named on 14th October.

2008 BBC National Short Story Award Winner Announced

Clare Wigfall has won the £15,000 prize for the BBC National Short Story Award for The Numbers

Jane Gardam received the runner up prize of £3,000 for The People on Privilege Hill

Chair of the judges, broadcaster and writer Martha Kearney, said that the standard and diversity of the shortlist was proof that 'short story is alive and well'.

Rushdie Wins Best of the Booker

Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children has been awarded the Best of the Booker prize, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the awards.

The shortlist comprised of five other previous Booker winners, Pat Barker’s The Ghost Road, Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda, J M Coetzee’s Disgrace, J G Farrell’s The Siege of Krishnapur and Nadine Gordimer’s The Conservationist.

This comes as the third Booker award for Rushdie, who is ‘absolutely delighted’ and graciously thanked ‘all those readers around the world who voted for Midnight's Children’.

Panalist Victoria Glendinning said that the novel had won by a "quite a large margin".

BBC National Short Story Award Shortlist Announced

It’s the world’s biggest award for a single short story with a prize of £15,000 for the winning author.

The shortlist for the BBC National Short Story Award is as follows -

Richard Beard - Guidelines Measures to Cope with Disgraceful and Other Events
Jane Gardam - The People on Privilege Hill
Erin Soros - Surge
Adam Thorpe - The Names
Clare Wigfall - The Numbers

The winner and runner-up will be announced on Monday 14 July

The Desmond Elliot Prize 2008 Winner Announced

Nikita Lalwani has been awarded the 2008 Desmond Elliot Prize for her book Gifted (ISBN: 9780670917075).

The prize for a 'sparkling good read' is worth £10,000 to the winner.

Chair of the Judges, Penny Vincenzi said Gifted has a "wonderfully bittersweet charm" and is a "book of extraordinary range" which "Desmond Elliot would have loved".

For more information, please visit www.desmondelliottprize.com

Under the Spotlight

To coincide with the National Year of Reading theme, Rhythm & Rhyme, and Michael Rosen’s 2008 Poetry Tour, we are promoting a special collection children’s poetry titles.

It’s a fantastic collection of 21 books, including Rosen’s Book of very silly poems and You wait till I’m older than you!, with an exclusive collection of free promotional gifts for everyone to enjoy!

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To view the complete list of titles, click here.