Booker Prize 2000 Shortlist Announced

Posted on October 6, 2000

The shortlist for the Booker Prize 2000, which is now in its 32nd year, has been announced. Each of the six shortlisted authors, including the winner, receives £1,000 in addition to a designer bound edition of their own book. 120 books were entered for the prize this year. The winner receives a total of £21,000 with a guaranteed increase in sales and recognition worldwide. This year's winner will be announced on Tuesday, 7 November 2000. J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace won the 1999 Booker Prize for Fiction.

The shortlisted books for this year include:

Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin (Bloomsbury) £16.99
Trezza Azzopardi, The Hiding Place (Picador)
Michael Collins, The Keepers of Truth (Phoenix House)
Kazuo Ishiguro, When We Were Orphans (Faber & Faber)
Matthew Kneale, English Passengers (Hamish Hamilton)
Brian O'Doherty, The Deposition of Father McGreevy (Arcadia)

Simon Jenkins, chair of the 2000 judges, said "Selecting the shortlist has not been easy but we have been greatly impressed by the range of books presented to us. The shortlist shows narrative energy, imaginative treatment and original voices from unpredictable quarters."

The Booker Prize for Fiction was set up by Booker plc in 1968 to reward merit, raise the stature of the author in the eyes of the public, and increase the sales of the books. It is administered by Book Trust (the independent charity which promotes books and reading) and Martyn Goff. In May 2000, Booker plc merged with Iceland plc becoming the Iceland Group plc. The Iceland Group plc employs 30,000 people in the UK and has an annual turnover of £5.5 billion.