2012 Man Booker Prize
The winner was Hilary Mantel, an early favourite, for her book Bring Up the Bodies, the sequel to her novel Wolf Hall, which won the award in 2009.
Other shortlisters included second-time nominee Tan Twan Eng, Deborah Levy, who returned from a long hiatus of publishing, and novelist débutantes Alison Moore and Jeet Thayil.
In the days and weeks leading up to the announcement of the winner, both media commentators and bookmakers considered Mantel and Self favourites to win, with the other four nominees ranked as outsiders.
We are all looking forward to a feisty Man Booker year – with a background of Jane Austen, John Ruskin, Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire, the Times Literary Supplement and even a hint of the library at Downton Abbey.
[8] He has written two non-fiction books based on his own experiences: Thirty Days: A Month at the Heart of Blair's War (2003), and On the Spartacus Road, a Spectacular Journey Through Ancient Italy (2010).
[9] His philosophy for the job was to look primarily for linguistic and stylistic innovation in the submitted works, and reward what he described as "the power and depth of prose".
"There is a widespread sense...that traditional, confident criticism, based on argument and telling people whether the book is any good, is in decline.
[13] Dan Stevens is an actor and literary critic, best known for his role as Matthew Crawley in the popular drama series Downton Abbey.
[18] Jury chairman Peter Stothard praised the selection by stating that "[w]hat made it really worthwhile was finding we had half a dozen extraordinary and exhilarating pieces of prose.
In the end, he said, "[i]t was the power and depth of prose that settled most of the judges' debates and we found the six books most likely to last and to repay future rereading.
"[19] Set in 16th century England, dealing with the career of Thomas Cromwell, this is the sequel to 2009 Booker winner Wolf Hall.
The King's eyes fall on Jane Seymour as a possible replacement for Anne, and it becomes Cromwell's task to navigate a path towards this goal.
Cromwell embarks on the task with his usual vigour and competence, but the sacrifices he has to make along the way prove disastrous for Anne, the nation, and ultimately also for himself.
Bring Up the Bodies is part of a trilogy, intended to end with the publication of the final book, whose planned title is The Mirror and the Light.
"[21] The judges did have concerns about nominating Mantel so soon after her last win, but "noted her even greater mastery of method...and the vivid depiction of English character and landscape.
"[22] A book about memory and survivor guilt, taking place over a period of several decades in the Cameron Highlands of Malaya.
Protagonist Yun Ling Teoh, who has recently retired from the Supreme Court, takes a journey to the Cameron Highlands.
His début novel, The Gift of Rain (2007), described by one reviewer as "thoughtful, evocative, undoubtedly provocative and, above all, fun", was longlisted for the 2007 Booker Prize.
[4] Taking place in a summer house in Southern France, Swimming Home is "a haunting exploration of loss and longing.
[26] Among the influences Levy lists for the novel are Greek mythology, the poetry of Pound, Apollinaire, Cummings, H.D., Baudelaire, Plath and the music of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana.
[27] She emphasised the central place of Kitty's beauty to the story, and how she has to "field the desiring but often aggressive gaze of every character in the novel".
Retired psychiatrist Zack Busner looks back at his days as a doctor at a mental hospital in the early 1970s, when he successfully woke up a number of patients with encephalitis lethargica by applying the drug L-DOPA.
Will Self's career has seen the publication of a great number of works of fiction and non-fiction alike, yet Umbrella is the first novel for which he has been shortlisted for a Booker Prize.
"[36] Thayil decided to call the book Narcopolis "because Bombay seemed to me a city of intoxication, where the substances on offer were drugs and alcohol, of course, but also god, glamour, power, money and sex".
[37] Among the literary works to which Narcopolis has been compared are William S. Burroughs's Junkie and Thomas de Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-Eater.
[38] Four days before the announcement of the winner, Mike Collett-White described Mantel's novel for Reuters as "the bookmakers' favorite alongside Will Self's 'Umbrella'".
[20] At the same time, Emma Lee Potter of the Daily Express conceded that, though the competition was "too tight to call", the "smart money" was "on the best known writers, Will Self and Hilary Mantel".
On 16 October, shortly after 21:40, jury chair Peter Stothard announced that the winner of the 2012 Man Booker Prize was Hilary Mantel for her Bring Up the Bodies.
"[41] Stothard called Mantel the "greatest modern English prose writer", adding that she had rewritten the art of historical fiction.
