In December 2015, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Professor of English and Postcolonial Literatures at the University’s School of English, was invited by the Man Booker Prize to be on its judging panel for 2016.
However, with 158 books to read in just over six months, Professor Gurnah – who was Booker shortlisted for his novel Paradise in 1994 and longlisted for The Sea in 2004 – questioned whether he would be able to make the announcement deadline. It was only out of ‘curiosity, a sense of responsibility to my profession, and because it was such an honour’ that he accepted the invitation and joined critic and lecturer Jon Day, poet and professor David Harsent, and actor Olivia Williams on the panel.
With biographer, historian and presenter Amanda Foreman taking up the chair, Professor Gurnah and his fellow judges set about the daunting task of reading almost a book a day between the last week of December 2015 and, in his case, 25 July 2016. The panel then agreed a longlist of 13 novels to go into the next stage of the process, which became a shortlist of six in September.
Finally, on 25 October, Paul Beatty was announced to the public as the winner for his book The Sellout.
Professor Gurnah said: ‘I know what being on that list means for a writer of fiction because my books have appeared on both the longlist and the shortlist, and in addition to the joy of being celebrated is the discovery of new readers who would otherwise have never heard of you or your work.’
Professor Abdulrazak Gurnah joined the University’s School of English in 1985. His interests lie in the fields of postcolonial writing and in discourses associated with colonialism, especially as they relate to Africa, the Caribbean and India.
He is one of a number of award-winning and leading international writers in the School.