Press Release
Strictly embargoed until 10pm, Tuesday 14 October 2014
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
wins
the 2014 Man Booker Prize
 Australian author Richard Flanagan wins prestigious prize
with PoW novel
www.themanbookerprize.com
Richard Flanagan is tonight, Tuesday 14 October, announced as the winner of the
2014 Man Booker Prize for Fiction for The Narrow Road to the Deep North, published
by Chatto & Windus.
The Tasmanian-born author is the third Australian to win the coveted prize which,
for the first time in its 46-year history, is now expanded to include entries from
writers of all nationalities, writing originally in English and published in the UK. He
joins an impressive literary canon of former winners including fellow Australians
Thomas Kenneally (Schindler’s Ark, 1982) and Peter Carey (Oscar & Lucinda, 1988
and The True History of the Kelly Gang, 2001).
The Narrow Road to the Deep North is the sixth novel from Richard Flanagan, who
is considered by many to be one of Australia’s finest novelists. It centres upon the
experiences of surgeon Dorrigo Evans in a Japanese POW camp on the now
infamous Thailand-Burma railway. The Financial Times calls it ‘elegantly wrought,
measured and without an ounce of melodrama… nothing short of a masterpiece.’
Named after a famous Japanese book by the haiku poet Basho, The Narrow Road to
the Deep North is described by the 2014 judges as ‘a harrowing account of the cost of
war to all who are caught up in it’. Questioning the meaning of heroism, the book
explores what motivates acts of extreme cruelty and shows that perpetrators may be
as much victims as those they abuse. Flanagan’s father, who died the day he finished
The Narrow Road to the Deep North, was a survivor of the Burma Death Railway.
Richard Flanagan was announced as the 2014 winner by AC Grayling, Chair of
judges, at an awards dinner at London’s Guildhall, which was broadcast live on the
BBC News Channel. Flanagan was presented with a trophy from HRH The Duchess
of Cornwall and a £50,000 cheque from Emmanuel Roman, Chief Executive of Man
Group. The investment management firm has sponsored the prize since 2002.
AC Grayling comments: ‘The two great themes from the origin of literature are love
and war: this is a magnificent novel of love and war. Written in prose of
extraordinary elegance and force, it bridges East and West, past and present, with a
story of guilt and heroism.
‘This is the book that Richard Flanagan was born to write.’
In addition to his £50,000 prize and trophy, Flanagan also receives a designer bound
edition of his book, and a further £2,500 for being shortlisted.
On winning the Man Booker Prize, an author can expect international recognition,
not to mention a dramatic increase in book sales. Sales of Hilary Mantel’s winning
novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, have exceeded a million copies in their
UK editions, published by Fourth Estate. Her novels have subsequently been adapted
for stage and screen, with the highly acclaimed theatre productions of both novels
arriving on Broadway in April 2015. Granta, publisher of Eleanor Catton’s 2013
winner, The Luminaries, has sold 300,000 copies of the book in the UK and almost
500,000 worldwide.
AC Grayling, philosopher and author, was joined on the 2014 panel of judges by:
Jonathan Bate, Oxford Professor of English Literature and biographer; Sarah
Churchwell, UEA’s Professor of American Literature; Daniel Glaser, neuroscientist
and cultural commentator; Alastair Niven, former Director of Literature at the
British Council and at the Arts Council, and Erica Wagner, former literary editor and
writer.
Richard Flanagan will take part in his first public event as winner of the prize at the
Apple Store, Regent Street, on Thursday 16 October:
http://www.apple.com/uk/retail/regentstreet/
To hear the most up-to-date news on this year’s prize, learn more about its history
and share your thoughts online, visit:
ENDS
For all press enquiries please contact:
Katy MacMillan-Scott or Ellie Hughes at Four Colman Getty
020 3697 4253/ 07786 567887 (Katy)
020 3697 4256/ 07990 632041 (Ellie)
katy.macmillan-scott@fourcolmangetty.com
ellie.hughes@fourcolmangetty.com
The Winner
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
By Richard Flanagan
Published by Chatto & Windus (£16.99)
The Narrow Road to the Deep North is a love story unfolding over half a century between a
doctor and his uncle’s wife. Taking its title from one of the most famous books in Japanese
literature, written by the great haiku poet Basho, Flanagan’s novel has as its heart one of the
most infamous episodes of Japanese history, the construction of the Thailand-Burma Death
Railway in World War II. In the despair of a Japanese POW camp on the Death Railway,
surgeon Dorrigo Evans is haunted by his love affair with his uncle’s young wife two years
earlier. Struggling to save the men under his command from starvation, from cholera, from
beatings, he receives a letter that will change his life forever.
Born in Tasmania in July 1961, Richard Flanagan is one of Australia’s leading novelists. His
novels, Death of a River Guide, The Sound of One Hand Clapping, Gould's Book of Fish
(winner of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize), The Unknown Terrorist and Wanting have
received numerous honours and been published in 26 countries. His father, who died the day
Flanagan finished The Narrow Road to the Deep North, was a survivor of the Burma Death
Railway. He lives in Tasmania.
Notes to Editors

Richard Flanagan is available for interview. Please contact Lisa Gooding at Chatto &
Windus
Tel: 0207 840 8677, email: lgooding@randomhouse.co.uk

The winner of the Man Booker Prize was chosen from 154 entries, including nine
called in by the judges. The 2014 shortlisted titles were:
Author
Joshua Ferris (US)
Richard Flanagan (Australian)
Karen Joy Fowler (US)
Howard Jacobson (British)
Neel Mukherjee (British)
Ali Smith (British)
Title (Imprint)
To Rise Again at a Decent Hour (Viking)
The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Chatto &
Windus)
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
(Serpent's Tail)
J (Jonathan Cape)
The Lives of Others (Chatto & Windus)
How to be Both (Hamish Hamilton)

The special designer bound edition of the book was created by Sue Doggett, a Fellow
of the UK’s principal bookbinding society, the Designer Bookbinders

UK publishers may submit novels written in the English language and published in
the UK between 1 October 2013 and 30 September 2014. The number of books a
publisher can submit will depend on that publisher’s inclusion in longlists over the
previous five years, as follows:
-
1 submission - publishers with no longlistings
2 submissions - publishers with 1 or 2 longlisting(s)
3 submissions - publishers with 3 or 4 longlistings
4 submissions - publishers with 5 or more longlistings
This means that the number of submissions for each publisher may change year on
year. Any author who has previously been shortlisted for the Booker (pre-2002) or
Man Booker Prize remains eligible

In addition, the judges ‘call in’ a number of novels each year: in addition to their main
submission, a publisher may submit a list of up to five titles for consideration,
accompanied by a justification from the editor. The judges are required to call in no
fewer than eight and no more than 12 of these titles. The judges are also permitted to
call in other books published within the requisite dates, even if the book has not been
submitted through any other route

Eleanor Catton won the 2013 Man Booker Prize for Fiction with The Luminaries
(Granta). To date, Granta have sold 300,000 copies in the UK and almost 500,000
worldwide

The prize was first awarded in 1969 and has been sponsored by the Man Group since
2002. The long-term future of the prize was secured in 2011 with the announcement
of a renewed 10 year sponsorship from the Man Group. The title ‘Booker Prize’
therefore only applies to prize years 1969 – 2001, before Man Group plc’s
sponsorship began and since 2002 it has been called The Man Booker Prize for
Fiction. It would be greatly appreciated if you could ensure that your editorial is
factually correct by referring to the prize’s full title at least once, if not in the
headline, then in your next subsequent mention. For a full history of the prize
including previous winners, shortlisted authors and judges visit the website:
www.themanbookerprize.com

The Booker Prize Foundation Advisory Committee, which advises on any changes to
the rules and on the selection of the judges, represents all aspects of the book world.
Its members are:
Ion Trewin- Chair, Literary Director, Booker Prize Foundation; Richard Cablepublisher, Random House; Mark Chilton- Company Secretary and General Counsel
of Booker Group plc; Basil Comely - BBC TV; James Daunt- Managing Director of
Waterstones; Jonathan Douglas- Director of the National Literacy Trust; Maggie
Fergusson - writer and Secretary of the Royal Society of Literature; Derek JohnsNon-executive Chairman, Granta; Peter Kemp- Chief Fiction Reviewer, The Sunday
Times; Nigel Newton- publisher, Bloomsbury; Fiammetta Rocco- literary editor, The
Economist (Man Booker International Prize Administrator); Emmanuel RomanChief Executive, Man; Eve Smith- Company Secretary, the Booker Prize Foundation;
Robert Topping - Topping & Company Booksellers

The Booker Prize Foundation is a registered charity (no 1090049) which, since 2002,
has been responsible for the award of the prize. The trustees of the Booker Prize
Foundation are former Chairman of Booker plc, Jonathan Taylor CBE (Chair); Lord
Baker of Dorking; Bidisha – writer, critic and broadcaster; Victoria Glendinning CBE
- biographer; Sir Ronald Harwood CBE- playwright and President of the Royal
Literary Fund; Baroness Kennedy QC- former Chair of the British Council and
Principal of Mansfield College, Oxford; Sir Andrew Motion - Professor of Creative
Writing, Royal Holloway College University of London and former Poet Laureate;
James Naughtie- broadcaster; Christopher Pearce - former Finance Director of
Rentokil plc. Martyn Goff CBE, former Man Booker Prize administrator, is President
of the Foundation and Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne and Baroness Neuberger
are Vice Presidents

Man Group has sponsored the Man Booker Prize since 2002. A leading investment
management firm founded in 1783, Man Group was recognised as a partner who
mirrored the quality, integrity and longevity of the Booker Prize. The prize
underscores Man Group's charitable focus on literacy and education as well as the
firm’s commitment to excellence and entrepreneurship. Together with the wider
charitable activities of the Booker Prize Foundation, the prize plays a very important
role in promoting literary excellence on a global scale that the firm is honoured to
support.
Man Group is an investment management business with a diverse offering in hedge
funds and long only products across equity, credit, managed futures, convertibles,
emerging markets, global macro and multi-manager solutions. At 30 June 2014, Man
managed $ 57.7 billion. Today, Man Group plc is listed on the London Stock
Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index with a market capitalisation of
around £2.1 billion. Further information can be found at www.man.com.

Booker is the UK's leading food wholesaler with over 170 branches nationwide. It
serves over 350,000 independent businesses

The Booker Prize Foundation has a longstanding partnership with the RNIB, and the
Foundation funds the production by RNIB of the shortlist in formats for the visually
impaired including braille, giant print and Talking Books

The Booker Prize Archive was given on loan in 2003 to Oxford Brookes University
where it now resides
Four Colman Getty
October 2014