Does the Booker Prize avoid important authors?

[Darren]

According to author Will Self it does. In this article with BBC News Online, Self said there were very few Booker winners from the last 25 years that have "in any way rocked society".

Any comments?

Does the Booker Prize, or any of the other awards influence which books you will read?

 

[Prolixic]

I'm not familiar with the Booker award, so I can't comment on that one in particular (Except to say that, after reading the article, that, unlike the author in the article, I would in no way be disappointed if any of my works were eligible for 50,000 pounds. That is a respectable chunk of change.) . However, I would say that most of my favorite authors have won awards for some of their works. I don't tend to pick up a book based on that alone, but it helps...especially with new authors. Also, I am more comfortable purchasing books for my kids if they are award winners. It implies a good book, at the very least.

Conversely, some of the authors that I like to read are the ones that the book store clerk has to look up before helping you find them. No awards no recognition--yet.

 

[Darren]

I agree that if I were an author, I would not be disappointed if my work was winning £50,000 prizes.

I have a core group of authors that I read, but when I venture into the more literary fiction genres I do tend to look to see if the book has won any of the famous awards - whether that's right or not I'm not sure. Probably not.

 

[Prolixic]

Did I see in the news where the prize was inadvertantly awarded to an illiterate man? Perhaps I imagined it.

 

[thewordygecko]

Maybe Will Self is sore because he's never won. Some of the authors who have won over the years include Margaret Atwood, Keri Hulme, J M Coetzee, John Berger, Salman Rushdie (and he won the Booker of Bookers for Midnight's Children), Nadine Gordimer, Michael Ondaatje... I do think that some of these authors have indeed 'rocked society' with their works. Perhaps it has not always been with the book(s) that have won the prize, however: Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, for instance, probably made more impact on a societal level than The Blind Assassin. I have not read anything of Self, so cannot comment on the effects of his books.