2005 Man Booker Prize Shortlist Announced

Posted on September 12, 2005

The six finalists for the Man Booker Prize, Britain's most famous literary award, have been named. Sponsored by the investment company Man Group, bestows a hefty prize award on the winner: 50,000 British pounds, or around $91,928 U.S.

[Kazuo] Ishiguro was nominated for Never Let Me Go, about three children who "confront the truth" about their seemingly happy childhood in the English countryside, the Booker Prize organizers announced on the award's website. He won the Booker Prize for his 1989 novel The Remains of the Day, later made into a movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.

[Julian]Barnes was nominated for Arthur and George," a fictionalized account of events involving Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, in the late 19th century. The other finalists are Zadie Smith for On Beauty, John Banville for The Sea, Sebastian Barry for A Long Long Way, and Ali Smith for The Accidental.

Many in the literary community were shocked that some previous winners who made the long list, were eventually cut in favor of younger authors. Those in the cut list included Salman Rushdie for Shalimar the Clown, Ian McEwan for Saturday, and JM Coetzee for Slow Man. It just wouldn't be a Booker Prize without someone's nose being put out of joint.

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