Not the Booker prize 2020: nominate your favourite book of the year
The Not the Booker prize is back – again! It feels great to write those words. After all we’ve been going through, it’s all the more astonishing the award has made it into its 12th year. Many of us have turned to books during the pandemic, and if we can shine a light on some quality literature and bring some excellent novels out of the shadows we’ll achieve something truly worthwhile.
When I say “we”, I mean “all of us”, because the Not the Booker is a collective endeavour. It relies on public nominations, public voting and the enthusiasm and knowledge of readers like you. And you can start to make your mark right here and right now. This year’s Not the Booker prize begins like every other, with nominations for this year’s best fiction on this very blog.
We’ll keep the innovations inspired by a comment below the line that brought last year’s winner on to the shortlist. The public vote will choose three novels, with another book selected by our 2019 judging panel. And like last year we’re enlisting some professional help. The independent bookshop of the year, Book-ish in Crickhowell, and Harrogate library, current holders of the library of the year award, will each select one entry to complete our shortlist of six.
Once we’ve got that list, we get to the most important part: reading the books. Once a week, I’ll post my thoughts here on the site and we can debate each book below the line. After that, we’ll have the final public vote, the judges’ panel and the happy moment when we can declare a winner and bestow a real and proper Guardian mug on a lucky author.
The first step towards that happy future is to start compiling our very long longlist. As usual, we are asking for nominations for any book eligible for this year’s Booker prize (PDF). The pandemic has upended publication schedules, but for the sake both of simplicity and of all the books that have come out during lockdown we’ll keep to the same dates as usual. So we’re looking for a novel published by a British or Irish publisher between 1 October 2019 and 30 September 2020. The authors can come from anywhere in the world – including the US – but they must be writing in English. All you need to do is to post a comment naming the book and author below the line, alongside the word “nomination”. We’ll also be grateful if you can name the publisher and say why you like the book.
We only need one nomination for each title. If someone else has already nominated your favourite, there’s no need to nominate it again – just tell us what it is about the novel that makes it so great.
And that’s it. As always, our terms and conditions are available for your perusal and delight. We’re also going to be looking out for three judges from those who make the best contributions to the discussion of this year’s shortlist. If you want to play a vital role in choosing this year’s winner, get ready to get busy. For now, it’s time for those nominations. Onwards!
To nominate a book for the 2019 Not the Booker prize please leave a comment below, including the word “nomination”, with the title and author of one book you think should be considered. If you can supply a publication date, that would be very useful. Nominations will remain open until 23.59 BST on Saturday 1 August 2020.