Entertainment

Booker Prize enlists Jack Reacher author Lee Child as judge

Last year’s award was controversially won by two novels.
Last year’s award was controversially won by two novels. Last year’s award was controversially won by two novels.

Lee Child, creator of the Jack Reacher series of crime thriller novels, will help judge this year’s Booker Prize.

Last year’s Booker Prize For Fiction was controversially won by two books – The Testaments by Margaret Atwood and Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo.

TV rights have been snapped up for Evaristo’s novel, while Atwood’s book is expected to be adapted by producers of The Handmaid’s Tale, starring Elisabeth Moss, from the author’s original novel.

The Duchess of Cornwall with 2019 Booker prize winners Bernardine Evaristo and Margaret Atwood
The Duchess of Cornwall with 2019 Booker prize winners Bernardine Evaristo and Margaret Atwood The Duchess of Cornwall with 2019 Booker Prize winners Bernardine Evaristo and Margaret Atwood (Aaron Chown/PA)

This year’s Booker Prize judging panel also features poet Lemn Sissay, author and critic Sameer Rahim and classicist and translator Emily Wilson, and is chaired by editor, literary critic and former publisher Margaret Busby.

Child, whose real name is James Grant, has sold more than 100 million books.

He recently spoke out against Brexit, saying: “I am not a huge fan of Britain, even though I was born there.”

Two of his books were made into films starring Tom Cruise as the former military policeman and Amazon is developing a drama based on the story.

Tom Cruise played Jack Reacher
Tom Cruise played Jack Reacher Tom Cruise played Jack Reacher (Ian West/PA)

Gaby Wood, literary director of the Booker Prize Foundation, said: “Judging the Booker Prize is a collective act of investigation and understanding – seeking the best in new fiction and being receptive to its many possibilities.

“This year’s five judges are, in engagingly different ways, expert readers of the world. Their powers of perception have broken barriers in their respective fields, and I’m looking forward to knowing what their minds will find when they join forces.”

The winner of the £50,000 prize will be announced in October at London’s Guildhall.