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Where's that Booker?
October 15, 2008

You were expecting, maybe, a quiet Frankfurt this year?  Not so fast --- at least not to judge by the party scene the night before the official kickoff of the fair.  Well, ok, the traditional Hachette pre-party at the Hessicher Hof on Tuesday might have been slightly less well attended, but mostly that just meant you didn't spend the evening with an elbow or three in your side.   Ditto the Frankfurter Hof late night, at which what seemed like thousands crowded for the announcement of the Man Booker Prize.   Problem is, the group was so noisy you could barely hear the name  Aravind Adiga when it was announced.   But there it was:  The White Tiger.  Another score for Atlantic, which published in the UK.  (Stateside, it's a Free Press title.)Grove Atlantic won last year, too, for The Gathering and the year before for of The Inheritance of Loss.

Can you name the last five Booker winners and their publishers?  Sad to report, none of the book world journalists at a  pre-announcement dinner could.  Me, I'm getting so old I remember winners from way back, like Kenzaburo Oe,  (Wait! Maybe that was a Nobel. ...) but can't recall what happened in this century. 

And no fair Googling. . .   

Posted by Sara Nelson on October 15, 2008 | Comments (0)