The Winner and Still Champeen...
In what turned out to be not so much a new award as a confirmation of an old one, the second Best of the Booker prize (given on the 40th anniversary of the award) went to the winner of the first one (given on the 25th anniversary): Salman Rushdie, for Midnight's Children. The voting was opened up to online civilians, 37% of whom went for the reigning champ. The Bookerites have yet to announce the voting totals for the runners up, which to me would be the only interesting news of the whole thing, but as a reminder, here were the other nominees, chosen by the Booker judges from previous Booker winners:
- The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell (1973)
- The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer (1974)
- Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey (1988)
- The Ghost Road by Pat Barker (1995)
- Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee (1999)
Needless to say, per Richard Morgan's genre comments yesterday, Geoff Ryman's Air was not among the choices. By the way, Mr. Rushdie made his way to our cluttered halls a short time ago, and we hope to have our interview with him for you available shortly. --Tom
KristiC on July 10, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Which book did he win the first Best of the Booker for--or do you mean they awarded it to Midnight's Children twice?
Kristi
Tom on July 10, 2008 at 12:19 PM
Sorry for the confusing phrasing! Yes, Midnight's Children won the original Best of the Booker (covering the first 25 years) and won the second one too (covering the first 40).
KristiC on July 11, 2008 at 02:05 PM
Thanks for the clarification! Hmm, I guess I really should read Midnight's Children one of these days then. :-)