THE MAN BOOKER

Hey, readers! I’m glad you’ve stopped by to smell the books.

Today, we will be doing a bit of talking about something that I get (a little too) excited about. We will be talking about a huge literary prize: the Man Booker. The Man Booker Prize is one of the most prestigious awards on the literary scene today.

According to their website, “The Man Booker Prize is the leading literary award in the English speaking world, and has brought recognition, reward and readership to outstanding fiction for over four decades.”

Each year, a meticulous amount of planning, reading, and analyzing books is done to ultimately pick a winner. The prize committee – About twenty well-known literature workers and enthusiasts – ultimately decides on the winner.

The Man Booker process begins in July, where the “longlist” is decided: the longlist is an assortment of 13 books that were decided upon by the panel of judges. Once the longlist is announced, the next step is to decide the shortlist: or the top five.

Just yesterday, the shortlist was announced! This year’s shortlist consists of Elieen by Otessa Moshfegh, The Sellout by Paul Beatty, Hot Milk by Deborah Levy, His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet, All That Man Is by David Szalay, and Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien.

(Photograph: Anna Ciummo)

The books will be evaluated even further by readers and the judges.

If any readers are looking into newer, relevant fiction, the Man Booker lists are the places to go. The prize has been around since 1969 and I don’t believe you’ll ever run out of things to read.

I haven’t been as excited for the Man Booker prize until last year, but I would say that it has become one of the biggest things that makes me proud of being a reader. It reminds me that there are still incredible books written every year. They're out there waiting to be read, and there will always be more! Although I probably won’t read all the 2016 longlist books anytime soon, they will always be on my radar.

Anyone that is interested in excellent reading content should check out the Man Booker lists. I have started reading one of the shortlisted books, Eileen, and it is seriously incredible. If you want to smell some good books this year, the Man Booker is the place to go!