The Best of the Booker is a one-off celebratory award to mark the 40th anniversary of the Man Booker Prize. The prize was initiated in 1969. The winner of The Best of the Booker will be announced on 10 July 2008 as part of the London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre.

A shortlist of six past Man Booker Prize winners has been drawn up, from which one will be picked by the public for The Best of the Booker award. Cast your vote and choose your favourite for the Best of the Booker

The books on the shortlist are:

			Pat Barker's The Ghost Road
			Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda
			J M Coetzee's Disgrace
			JG Farrell's The Seige of Krishnapur
			Nadine Gordimer's The Conservationist
			Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children

The British Council will join this celebration of 40 years of the Man Booker Prize in all its nine centres and you too can use the blog to express your views about the shortlisted books.

The shortlisted titles and selected books by winners over the past 39 years will be on display at all our libraries. You will also be able to participate in a ‘Booker treasure hunt’ and find interesting sections of the prize-winning titles in the library.

Also look out for the trivia on the origin of The Booker and more. For details, please contact your nearest British Council.