Rushdie wins Booker of Bookers

Arifa Akbar in The Independent:

81784226_37622tSalman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children has been fêted by the literary world for nearly three decades. Yesterday the public showed their appreciation, voting it the greatest Booker Prize winner of them all.

The novel was selected from a long-list of 41 previous Booker winners, and had been the bookies’ favourite on a shortlist of six nominated to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the prize.

Announcing the winner, Victoria Glendinning, the chairman of the judging panel that picked the shortlist, urged the organisers to allow the public to choose the Booker winner every year. This, she said, would encourage people to read more.

It is the third Booker Midnight’s Children has picked up since it first won the award in 1981, having also been judged the Booker of Bookers for the award’s 25th anniversary.

More here.