is the Man Booker Prize legit? just read a pretty good book by Marlon James, "A Brief History of Seven Killings" . great read, kind of a slog at the end, like other overlong works such as Don Quixote and War and Peace it built up too much material to have much of an ending.... anyway, i was wondering....It won a bunch of awards incuding the Man Booker Prize. Have been hearing rumors that the Man Booker Prize is a sham. Anyone know anything about this?

It's the Booker award. It's basically a British award that until a few years only included Commonwealth writers whose books are in English and published in England. It could historically be seen as some kind of neo-colonial attempt by Britain to control the writing that comes out of the former colonies. Now any one who writes in English whose work was published in England is eligible to be put on a Booker short list, which in itself is an honor. I saw a profile on James and he is a Jamaican and so is a Commonwealth writer.

I would hazard a guess that opening up the award to American writers might have created some bitterness. It seems that although the award is totally inclusive the selection process still favors Commonwealth writers and no American has yet won the award. Well, yes your work will be considered if it's good enough. This is kind of in the vein of a company open to female execs but never seems to hire one because the quality is not there.

Thx for the correction. and good answer too.

It's the Booker award.

Just noticed it is called the Man Booker Prize on the cover of my copy of "A Brief History of Seven Killings", for whatever that is worth, which is nothing, but I no longer stand corrected. Still a great explanation thanks.

Really a great book, one of those total escapes into another world, kind of wished it wouldn't end.
Some great imagery and ideas in there. A lot of corroboration for my gut feelings about Marley's demise... " Who ever get cancer from infection?"

well, great job by Marlon, am looking forward to his next offering.