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2 weeks ago | 
thebookerprizes.com | Hilary Mantel |Iris Murdoch |Eva Baltasar |Julia Sanches
Some authors can make us feel hungry with words alone, vividly describing dishes that will make your mouth water. Food in books often has a symbolic meaning, too, used to express love, gain favour, or to portray a sense of cultural identity or comfort.
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1 month ago | 
thebookerprizes.com | Iris Murdoch |Paul Murray |Charlotte Mendelson |Mark Haddon
Featuring the tragicomic adventures of a host of eccentric misfits, these beguiling books will appeal to fans of Wes Anderson – a film director known as a bibliophile as well as an auteur Written by Helen Babbs Publication date and time: Published May 23, 2025If you were to write a checklist of what makes Wes Anderson’s film style so distinctive, it would have to include books. They’re a big deal in almost all his movies and many of his characters are writers or storytellers of some sort.
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Jul 1, 2024 | 
thebookerprizes.com | Iris Murdoch |Molly Keane |Timothy Mo |Ian McEwan
Looking for a book to put a smile on your face? We’ve trawled the Booker Prize archives in search of the wittiest works, from biting social satire to family farce Written by John Self Publication date and time: Published July 1, 2024You might have concluded from some recent Booker Prize winners that great novels aren’t funny any more.
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Jan 2, 2024 | 
thebookerprizes.com | Iris Murdoch |Molly Keane |Timothy Mo |Ian McEwan
Looking to start the year with a book to put a smile on your face? We’ve trawled the Booker Prize archives in search of the wittiest works, from biting social satire to family farce Written by John Self Publication date and time: Published January 2, 2024You might have concluded from some recent Booker Prize winners that great novels aren’t funny any more.
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Nov 9, 2023 | 
thebookerprizes.com | Iris Murdoch
Reading Iris Murdoch is easy: you start by ignoring her reputation. At least this was my experience, having expected this high-minded philosopher-novelist’s books to be stodgy and remote, animated not by story or characters, but by ideas. This could not have been more wrong. Murdoch’s books are not worthy or dull in the least: dull is the opposite of what they are. Her novels are clever, yes, and ambitious, yet they are not the opposite of popular fiction, but an elevation of it.
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Nov 7, 2023 | 
thebookerprizes.substack.com | Iris Murdoch
Throughout November, we’re celebrating our latest Book of the Month – Iris Murdoch’s The Black Prince, where ex-tax collector and author of two unpopular novels, Bradley Pearson, wishes to devote his retirement to writing a masterpiece. Part metafictional thriller, part love story, Murdoch’s novel was shortlisted for the 1973 Booker Prize and is now widely regarded as her best work.
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Nov 6, 2023 | 
thebookerprizes.com | Iris Murdoch
In her journal on 21 December 1971, Iris Murdoch recorded ‘Finished BP today. Thank God’. The novel, The Black Prince, had gone through a difficult period of gestation.
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Nov 6, 2023 | 
thebookerprizes.com | Iris Murdoch
Skip to main content In 1973, The Black Prince was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Part metafictional thriller, part love story, it was Murdoch’s 15th novel and her third to be recognised by the prizeWidely regarded as her best work, The Black Prince is Murdoch at the height of her powers. Ex-tax collector and author of two unpopular novels, Bradley Pearson wishes to devote his retirement to writing a masterpiece.
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Sep 1, 2023 | 
thebookerprizes.substack.com | Bernice Rubens |Elizabeth Mavor |Beryl Bainbridge |Iris Murdoch
‘Each book is a marvel,’ said Esi Edugyan, the author and Chair of the Booker Prize 2023 judges, when we sat down with her recently to chat about this year’s prize. ‘We came up with a list that we really felt was the representation of the best writing that’s being produced today,’ Edugyan added, reflecting how the panel chose their Booker Dozen.
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Sep 1, 2023 | 
thebookerprizes.com | Elizabeth Mavor |Beryl Bainbridge |Iris Murdoch |Elizabeth Bowen
Some of the more intriguing volumes on the Booker Library’s shelves are the ones that have, over the years, fallen out of print. One of these is Elizabeth Mavor’s A Green Equinox. Shortlisted in 1973, today it’s a conspicuous unknown compared to the novels it was up against: Beryl Bainbridge’s The Dressmaker, Iris Murdoch’s The Black Prince, and that year’s winner, J. G. Farrell’s The Siege of Krishnapur. Hopefully though, Mavor’s novel is about to reach new readers.
