Mary Renault and Patrick White shortlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize
Author: Antonio Gonzalez Cerna
March 25, 2010
The shortlist for The Lost Man Booker Prize — a one-off prize to honor the books published in 1970 that were not eligible for consideration for the Booker Prize — was announced today and includes two LGBT authors: Mary Renault and Patrick White.
The Lost Man Booker is the brainchild of Peter Straus, the honorary archivist to The Booker Prize Foundation. He realised that in 1971, just two years after it began, the Booker Prize ceased to be awarded retrospectively and became – as it is today – a prize for the best novel of the year of publication. At the same time the award moved from April to November and, as a result, a wealth of fiction published for much of 1970 fell through the net and was never considered for the prize.
The six books are:
- The Birds on the Trees by Nina Bawden (Virago)
- Troubles by J G Farrell (Phoenix)
- The Bay of Noon by Shirley Hazzard (Virago)
- Fire From Heaven by Mary Renault (Arrow)
- The Driver’s Seat by Muriel Spark (Penguin)
- The Vivisector by Patrick White (Vintage)
Although judges selected the shortlist, the winner of The Lost Man Booker Prize will be decided by the international reading public (That’s you and me!). Voting starts today and ends on April 23rd. The overall winner will be announced on May 19th.
Vote here for the novel you think you should win the Lost Man Booker Prize.
Read the full press release here.
