'Golden Man Booker Prize' Launched to Mark 50th Anniversary

The Booker Prize Foundation has launched the Golden Man Booker Prize to mark the 50th anniversary of the prestigious literary award. This special, one-time award "will crown the best work of fiction from the last five decades of the prize, as chosen by five judges and then voted for by the public." The Golden Man Booker will put the 51 winners "back under the spotlight, to discover which of them has stood the test of time, remaining relevant to readers today."

The judges appointed to read winning novels from each decade are writer and editor Robert McCrum (1970s); poet Lemn Sissay MBE (1980s); novelist Kamila Shamsie (1990s); broadcaster and novelist Simon Mayo (2000s); and poet Hollie McNish (2010s).

Each judge will choose what, in his or her opinion, is the best winner from that particular decade, and champion the title against the other judges' selections. Their "Golden Five" will be announced May 26 at the Hay Festival, after which and the elite shortlist will be put to a month-long public vote from May 26 to June 25 on the Man Booker Prize website. The overall winner will be announced July 8 at the Man Booker 50 Festival.

"The very best fiction endures and resonates with readers long after it is written," said Baroness Helena Kennedy, chair of the Booker Prize Foundation. "I'm fascinated to see what our panel of excellent judges--including writers and poets, broadcasters and editors--and the readers of today make of the winners of the past, as they revisit the rich Man Booker library."

The Golden Man Booker Prize will be supported by retailers, libraries and publishers through online promotion. Readers can revisit the previous winners for the #ManBookerPrize50 challenge on Instagram.

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