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2020

Booker Prize

Novelist and activist Kit de Waal follows the most prestigious literary award in the English-speaking world - the Booker Prize.

In the build-up to the announcement of this year鈥檚 winner, we meet the six authors creating some of the most exciting fiction from across the world and discover the novels in contention for the prize, which are flying off the shelves all over the country.

The 2020 shortlist offers an exciting variety of global stories, featuring the most diverse mix of authors the Booker has ever seen, as well as an unusual number of debuts.

Kit 鈥� a vocal campaigner for inclusivity in publishing 鈥� also examines the wider landscape of the publishing industry in the wake of the unprecedented global events of 2020.

She meets Bernardine Evaristo, joint-winner of last year鈥檚 award and the first black woman to win the prize since its inception in 1969, to explore not only the life-changing effect of winning the Booker but also the issue of diversity in publishing, highlighted by this year鈥檚 Black Lives Matter movement. And we hear from members of this year鈥檚 judging panel about how the pandemic has affected not only this year鈥檚 judging process but also the industry as a whole and the way that we read.

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29 minutes