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Saturday 23 July 2016

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Man Booker Prize 2014: AC Grayling to lead panel, with an extra judge to cope with new rules

AC Grayling is to chair the first Man Booker Prize panel under new rules admitting US authors, with an extra judge to cope with influx of writers

AC Grayling at the Hay Festival
AC Grayling Photo: CLARA MOLDEN

A C Grayling has been named as chairman of judges for next year’s Man Booker Prize, as the panel gains a new member to cope with the increased workload as a result of controversial new rules.

The Man Booker Prize will now be open to authors across the globe writing in English, meaning American writers will be in contention for the first time.

The inaugural judging panel, which could be responsible for the first prize winner from the US, has now been announced, with A C Grayling at its helm.

Grayling, who has previously worked on the 2003 panel, will be joined by five other judges; one more than usual in recognition of the increased challenge.

One of them, Sarah Churchwell, was born in the US and is Professor of American Literature at the University of East Anglia, while Erica Wagner is an American critic living in London.

They will be joined by: Jonathan Bate, Oxford Professor of English Literature and biographer; Dr Daniel Glaser, neuroscientist and cultural commentator; and Dr Alastair Niven, former Director of Literature at the British Council and at the Arts Council;.

The panel, which is notable for its number of academics, will now be responsible for finding the “very best work of literary fiction”, written in the English language and published in the UK.

Grayling has already vowed the nationality of authors would not affect the judge’s decision, telling the Telegraph the panel would forget biographical details “very quickly” as soon as they started reading.

He added the rule change meant the prize would be “even bigger” for authors, saying the decision-making process would be “fascinating”.

When asked what he would be looking for in potential longlisted books, he said he hoped to find novels that made judges want to “keep reading”.

“If when you finish a novel you sit there for a bit, because it has possessed you or overwhelmed you,” he said. “When you find you can’t just pick up another book next, because you want the relish of it to linger on your tongue.

“When it grabs you and moves you and changes you a little bit. Then you can tell it is a really fine piece of literature.”

In a statement released in his official capacity as head of the judging panel, Grayling said: "The Man Booker prize has become an even bigger entity this year, with all fiction in English published worldwide between October 2013 and October 2014 now joining the competition.

“The challenge for my fellow judges and me is an exciting one, and I'm delighted to have such an outstanding group of people to work with in this highly significant year for the prize.

“We welcome that challenge, and are now launching ourselves into it with relish."

A longlist, typically of 12 or 13 books, will be announced in July, with six shortlisted in September and the winner named at a ceremony in central London in October.

Next year will be the 46th year of the prize, which was launched in 1969.

In 2013 winner, Eleanor Catton, made history as the youngest author to win the prize, winning with its longest ever novel The Luminaries at age 28.

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