After the 2011 Man Booker chair of judges, Stella Rimington controversially stressed prioritising “readability” and books that “zip along”, the Rathbones Folio prize was established that year as a direct challenge to the prestigious Booker. John Banville, who won the Booker in 2005 and originally supported the new rule, revealed he has since changed his mind. I am convinced the administrators should take the bold step of conceding the change was wrong, and revert,” he said. In February, 30 publishers signed a letter urging the Man Booker organisers to reverse the change, or risk a “homogenised literary future”. The Booker Foundation responded by saying there was no evidence that the prize’s diversity had been affected.

Source: The Irish Times March 28, 2018 09:22 UTC