In a result that had bookies reaching their hands deep into their pockets, Irish author Anne Enright picked up The 2007 Man Booker Prize last night with her novel The Gathering, published by Jonathon Cape.
William Crawley was hoping for Animal's People (by Indra Sinha). Many others reckoned that Ian McEwan’s year had finally come. I guess he’ll have to churn out another book for his publisher to enter in a future competition.
As a 12/1 outsider - not to mention, as a mightly fine author to have got through to the final short list - Anne commented after winning that she was now glad she’d managed on Monday to buy a dress for Tuesday night’s ceremony.
A pity that like last year the event wasn’t fully televised, other than the announcement being made during the 10 o’clock news, and an interview with the winner on Newsnight (that I caught being repeated later on News 24). Gone are the days with a husky Kirsty Wark whispering snippets of information about the short listed authors in an echoing venue.
And remember that you can still read the reviews of the Booker long list (which includes the short list) over at The Asylum.
2 comments:
No "Maisy Mouse" books in the shortlist again this year? It's a travesty!
Went to see Anne Enright (and Glenn Patterson) reading and speaking at the Belfast Festival last night. She came across as warm and funny, which is more than can be said for her book.
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