The Luminaries Short Listed For Man Booker Prize 2013

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY PRESS

Media Release: For immediate use  Tuesday 10 September, 2013

New Zealand Novel the Luminaries Short Listed For Man Booker Prize 2013

Victoria University Press is thrilled at the announcement that Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries has made the short list of just six books for the prestigious Man Booker Prize 2013 announced today in London.

Speaking from the UK where she is on a promotional tour, Ms Catton said, ‘I am proud that this shortlist will mean many more people around the world will have a chance to visit New Zealand, imaginatively speaking, and spend awhile in our historical past. I think that New Zealand literature is in a very strong place right now­–I'm especially excited about the writers of my generation–and I am happy that, whatever the outcome of the prize, the shortlisting will help to raise the profile of New Zealand literature elsewhere.’

Ms Catton’s New Zealand publisher, Fergus Barrowman of Victoria University Press said, ‘‘I love this book and I’m very happy that so many more readers will now discover the pleasures it has to offer them.’

The Luminaries, a nineteenth century West Coast gold-rush murder story with twenty part cast and a richly patterned structure, has been receiving glowing reviews internationally and in New Zealand. The Guardian review called the novel ‘a dazzling feat of a novel, the golden nugget in this year's Man Booker long list.'

The Man Booker Prize 2013 is announced in London on 15 October. "I've never attended a black tie event before,’ said Ms Catton. ‘I'll have to buy a frock."

The Luminaries was published by Victoria University Press in August 2013.

ENDS

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