An acquaintance of mine, Yann Martel, won the Man Booker prize last night for his novel Life of Pi. His life will almost certainly never be the same. As I write, he's being interviewed on BBC Radio 4's flagship news programme Today after having been up all night partying somewhere in London.
The best newspaper coverage has been in the Guardian. The day before the winner was announced, novelist and prize judge Russell Celyn Jones wrote (Read between the hype):
The whole point of the Booker prize is to bring attention and new readers to such books that would otherwise struggle in a market dominated by commercial fiction. Life of Pi is a good example.
More can found in the following two Guardian stories. The first, more interesting piece, is about Yann; the second focuses on the prize itself.
I can't comment on his book because I haven't read it. I hardly ever read fiction. Real life is so fascinatingly bizarre who needs to make stuff up?
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