WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The Booker Prize Foundation has announced a Special Golden Man Booker Prize to mark the 50th anniversary of the coveted literary award.
This special one-off award will crown the best among the Booker Prize-winning works of fiction in the last five decades, as chosen by five judges and then voted for by the public.
The Golden Man Booker will put all 51 winners - which are all still in print - back under the spotlight, to discover which of them has stood the test of time, remaining relevant to readers today.
Five judges have been appointed to read the winning novels from each decade of the prize, who will put forward their favourite book of that period.
Writer and editor Robert McCrum will look into the winners of 1970s; Poet Lemn Sissay will go through the books of 1980s; novelist Kamila Shamsie will filter from the best in 1990s; broadcaster and novelist Simon Mayo will choose from the laureates of 2000s; while poet Hollie McNish is assigned to judge the works of 2010s.
The judges' 'Golden Five' shortlist will be announced at the Hay Festival on 26 May. The five books will then be put to a month-long public vote from 26 May to 25 June on the Man Booker Prize website.
The overall winner will be announced at the final day of the Man Booker 50 Festival at the Southbank Centre in London on 8 July.
2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the Man Booker Prize, the leading literary award in the English speaking world.
The 50th anniversary will also be celebrated globally with Man Booker author events at international literary festivals across the world throughout the year, the Prize's sponsor Man Group said.
Baroness Helena Kennedy, chair of the Booker Prize Foundation, said 'The very best fiction endures and resonates with readers long after it is written'.
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