December 18th, 2007
Portillo to head Booker panel
Continuing the run of well-known book judge appointments, Michael Portillo is to head the 2008 Booker Prize panel. The other judges will include literary journalist and Deputy Editor of Granta Alex Clark, James Heneage, founder of Ottakar’s bookshops and broadcaster Hardeep Singh Kohli. Also on the panel is Louise Doughty, the novelist behind The Telegraph’s excellent ‘Novel in A Year’ and ‘A Writer’s Year’ series.
December 18th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
Louise Doughty’s also the author of the excellent Stone Cradle, as well as Fires in the Dark - both are about Roma gypsies in 19th century England and during World War Two in Eastern Europe, respectively. She apparently found out quite late in life that she had some Roma blood in her and started writing about it. A third gypsy-related book is in the pipeline - I can’t wait.