Well-known faces from Harry Potter, Sex Education, Game of Thrones, The Bear, His Dark Materials and more star in new films showcasing Booker Prize 2024 shortlist.
Produced by globally renowned Merman Television, the films are directed by one of UK television’s fastest-rising stars – writer, director, and producer Sebastian Thiel.
Previous films showcasing the Booker Prizes’ shortlisted novels have been viewed over 50 million times and high-profile performers include Dua Lipa, David Harewood, Caitriona Balfe and Alfred Enoch.
Novels written by authors from five countries feature on this year’s shortlist and five of the six are written by women, a first in the prize’s 55-year history.
For the fifth time in three years, the Booker Prizes have partnered with Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s production company Merman Television on a series of short films featuring well-known performers reading extracts from the shortlisted books.
Their release has become one of the most highly anticipated moments in the Booker Prizes’ calendar, with some of the UK’s leading acting and filmmaking talent keen to take part. The previous set of films, published in April, were viewed over 32 million times across the Booker Prizes’ social media channels.
The new films, which showcase the 2024 shortlist for the Booker Prize, the world’s most influential award for a single work of fiction, are directed by writer, director and producer Sebastian Thiel, one of UK television’s fastest-rising stars. His directing credits include the International Emmy-nominated BBC Three comedy Dreaming Whilst Black, and the recent Netflix series Supacell.
The performers featured are: Adelayo Adedayo (The Responder, Some Girls), Nonso Anozie (Sweet Tooth, Game of Thrones), Chipo Chung (Silo, His Dark Materials), Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter, The Death of Stalin), Will Poulter (Dopesick, Midsommar) and Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education, The Decameron).
The films will premiere at a Booker Prize shortlist event at the Times and Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival at 10.30am on Saturday, 12 October, and will be published on the Booker Prizes website (thebookerprizes.com) and social channels (@thebookerprizes) the same day. They will also be shown at the Booker Prize 2024 ceremony, which will be held at Old Billingsgate, London, on Tuesday, 12 November.
Gaby Wood, Chief Executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, says:‘Over the past three years the films we make with Merman have become not only one of the highlights of the Booker year, but works of art in their own right: a project that world-class actors and filmmakers want to be a part of.
‘We couldn’t be more grateful to everyone involved for the impact they have in inspiring more people to read some of the century’s greatest books.
‘Watching extraordinary actors bring fragments of the Booker shortlisted books to life is a huge thrill, and seeing the love the films get from the public once they’re out in the world proves how vivid these stories can be for everyone. We receive countless comments from people saying they want to buy and read the whole book as a result.
‘This time round the six films have been conjured by the artistry of Sebastian Thiel and his talented crew, including Director of Photography Evelin van Rei. Along with the brilliant producers and casting director at Merman, a true dream team!
‘We hope you enjoy these films as much as we have.’
Sebastian Thiel, Director of the film, adds:‘It was a privilege to direct Booker’s latest videos and be part of a project that celebrates such great literature.
“Working with these remarkable texts and talented actors in an intimate setting inspired me creatively, allowing me to focus on simple yet meaningful visuals. It’s been a truly rewarding experience, bringing these powerful stories to life.”
More about the shortlist
The £50,000 Booker Prize is awarded annually to the best sustained work of fiction written in English by authors from anywhere in the world and published in the UK and/or Ireland.
The 2024 shortlist features five women for the first time, and authors representing five countries, including the first Dutch writer to be shortlisted and the first Australian in a decade. It features stories which transport readers around the world and beyond the Earth’s atmosphere: from the battlefields of the First World War to a spiritual retreat in rural Australia; from America’s Deep South in the 19th century to a remote Dutch house in the 1960s; from the International Space Station to a cave network beneath the French countryside.
The six books – and the performers reading extracts from them in the films – are as follows:
The winner will be announced on Tuesday, 12 November 2024. The announcement will be broadcast live in a special edition of BBC Radio 4’s Front Row at 9.30pm, and livestreamed on the Booker Prizes’ social channels.
More about the Booker Prizes’ films
The Booker Prizes have worked with Merman on its shortlist films since 2022. The previous sets of films were directed by Charlotte Hamblin, Hannah Berry George and Kevin Thomas, and featured performances from Dua Lipa, Eleanor Tomlinson, David Jonsson, Tobias Menzies, Anya Chalotra, Antonia Thomas, Anna Friel, Jarvis Cocker, David Harewood, Nikki Amuka Bird, Prasanna Puwanarajah, Sharon Horgan, Adjoa Andoh, Aisling Bea, Jessica Brown Findlay, Toby Stephens, Michelle de Swarte, Osy Ikhile, Caitríona Balfe, Alfred Enoch, Bel Powley, Paterson Joseph, Susan Lynch and Nina Wadia.
The most recent set of films, produced for the International Booker Prize 2024 and directed by Charlotte Hamblin, was viewed over 32 million times across the Booker Prizes’ Instagram and TikTok accounts. The films produced for the Booker Prize 2022, directed by Kevin Thomas, won in the Culture category of The Drum Awards for Marketing EMEA 2023.
The director of photography for the new films is Evelin van Rei, a Dutch autistic artist working in photography and cinematography. Evelin is a full member of BAFTA and the Netherlands Society of Cinematographers, and received the Angénieux Special Encouragement Award at Cannes Film Festival in 2022. The executive producer is Joshua Buckingham.
Jenny Brown has worked with many of the biggest names in Scottish literature
A leading figure in Edinburgh’s book scene, and founding Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, has been recognised with an Honorary Doctorate from Edinburgh Napier University.
Jenny Brown established the literary agency Jenny Brown Associates in 2002, and previously served as Head of Literature at the Scottish Arts Council and presented book programmes for STV.
She is now Vice-Chair of Edinburgh International Book Festival, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Jenny was awarded her new title of Doctor of the University, and collected her Honorary Degree, during Edinburgh Napier’s graduation ceremony at the Usher Hall today (Wednesday), in recognition of her major contribution to literature and publishing.
Jenny Brown Founding director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival receiving an Honorary Doctorate At Edinburgh Napier University
Jenny said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be receiving this Doctorate – it’s a real honour.I’ve had a long association with the University. I’ve talked to the publishing students, I’ve had lots of interns at my literary agency from the publishing course, and I’ve been to the creative writing studios quite a number of times. So it’s a lovely honour.
“It’s thrilling to have somebody who has worked in literature all their life recognised this way. I’m not an academic, I’m somebody who believes in the power of reading and power of writing – and somebody who believes very strongly that Scottish writing has got a lot to offer on the international stage.”
Giving her laureation, David Bishop, creative writing lecturer at ENU’s School of Arts and Creative Industries, said: “If anyone who knows the value of a story, it’s Jenny – a woman who revolutionised the way Scotland thinks about reading, writing and publishing.
“A 40-year career in the arts, festivals, publishing and literature has given Jenny a unique perspective on the ability of writers to move and inspire us, and on the power of stories to entertain, to educate and to enthral.
“There is no doubt Jenny’s involvement has been a significant part in the renaissance of Scotland’s writing and publishing industries.”
Jenny was born in Manchester but grew up in Edinburgh. At the age of 24, she was given six months to pull the first Edinburgh book festival together in 1983. It proved so successful it returned two years later and became the annual fixture it is today.
Today she runs an acclaimed literary agency in Edinburgh with a roster of bestselling and multi-award-winning authors. She has worked with William McIlvanney, the godfather of Tartan Noir, and helps keep alive the work of acclaimed writers such as George Mackay Brown and Alasdair Gray.
In addition to her storied career in literature, Jenny has been a consultant for the creation of Edinburgh Napier’s acclaimed BA English programme, taken on students from the Publishing Masters as interns, and been a frequent guest speaker on the University’s Creative Writing programme.
In that submission, we stated the following regarding our Grant in Aid budget from the Scottish Government for 2023/24:
“While we welcomed the Scottish Government’s decision in February 2023 to reverse the 10% cut to our Grant in Aid Budget which was originally announced in December 2022, it should be noted that the £6.6m this cut related to has not yet been confirmed in Creative Scotland’s budget.”
We are extremely disappointed to report that the £6.6m budget has not been included in the Autumn Budget Revisions.
This has been confirmed in writing by the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Angus Robertson, in a letter to our Chief Executive, Iain Munro on 20 September.
This relates to Grant-in Aid funding that we receive from the Scottish Government and that we use to support 119 cultural organisations across Scotland through Regular Funding.
Given the extensive messaging and advocacy regarding the pressures on culture budgets and risks to the culture sector that we, and many others have been making, this is a concerning development.
To address this reduction, the Creative Scotland Board agreed on 27 September, to use £6.6m of our National Lottery reserves to prevent us having to pass it on to the Regularly Funded Organisations, especially given the next payments are due in 2 weeks’ time.
Whilst the unprecedented pressures on public finances are understood, we are disappointed that the Scottish Government has taken this decision. However, Creative Scotland is acting swiftly and pragmatically to help stabilise the situation in the short term.
This step of using our National Lottery reserves in this way will only happen once. The budget for 2024/25 will not be decided by the Scottish Government for some months yet but should the Scottish Government choose to sustain this reduction, we will require to pass it on to the sector.
Creative Scotland appeared before the Culture Committee at the Scottish Parliament on yesterday (Thursday 28 September) to give evidence as part of the Committee’s ongoing inquiry into culture budgets in Scotland.
David Watt, chief executive of Culture & Business Scotland, said: “At a time when Scottish Government ministers repeatedly speak about the importance and value of culture to our society and economy, the reinstatement of the £6.6M cut to Creative Scotland’s annual budget for the current year is unfathomable.
““Just yesterday (Thursday September 28), I, alongside other cultural representatives, gave budget evidence to the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee to hopefully ensure that this shortsighted budget decision does not extend into the 2024-25 budget for culture settlement.
“Investment in culture is essential for society, local communities, tourism, the economy and Scotland’s international reputation. The ongoing challenges of the legacy impact of Covid, Brexit and the cost-of-living crisis, are very real, with many arts and culture organisations operating on a knifes edge.
“These issues are exacerbated as the majority have a lack of unrestricted reserves and continue to struggle to build these up due to slow growth in ticket sales and increased overheads due to high energy prices.
“A reduction in public funding will rapidly increase the firefighting our culture organisations and venues are facing against challenge after challenge. If this budget pattern continues, with little opportunity to ensure future sustainability, there will be an inevitable shrinkage of the culture sector, and the economic and social impact of this will be significant for us all.”
As part of the Autumn budget review, the Scottish Government has re-instated a 10% cut to Creative Scotland’s 2023-24 annual budget (totaling approximately £6.6m), which following mass campaigning from the cultural sector, was overturned earlier this year (writes SMIA Interim CEO and Creative Director ROBIN KILPATRICK).
As the organisation which exists to strengthen, empower and unite Scotland’s music industry – representing a diverse membership of over 4,000 people working across all music genres and industry subsectors – we’re compelled to highlight the devastating impact of this decision; not just to music and culture, but to Scottish society at large.
The cut directly relates to the funding allocated to support Creative Scotland’s Regular Funding Network, comprising 119 cross-artform organisations (RFOs) that are structurally integral to both supporting and delivering Scotland’s cultural output. The SMIA is one of them.
In the short-term (for the rest of this financial year), Creative Scotland has had to divert to utilising National Lottery reserves to plug the gap and prevent the cuts from being passed on to members of the RFO network.
If this hadn’t been the case, in two weeks’ time when the next RFO funding payments are due, each of the 119 organisations would, in effect, have received a ~40% cut to projected funding.
In the SMIA’s case, this would have been two weeks ahead of the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award Ceremony, and would have put the delivery of Scotland’s national music prize at significant risk.
The cut would have again been replicated in January at the next (and final) RFO payment for this financial year, which in the case of many organisations, would have meant the end. Whilst immediate disaster has been avoided, the use of Creative Scotland reserves at this stage means that they are now significantly depleted for what was their intended purpose.
Last month, Creative Scotland highlighted that over 500 cultural organisations stated their intention to apply for Multi-year funding; a new funding scheme that will replace the current Regular Funding one. From the intentions to apply, the indicative annual request was in excess of £113m – far exceeding what Creative Scotland expects to have available.
Inevitably, this means that Creative Scotland will not be able to support as many organisations on a multi-year basis as they currently do, and the application process will be highly competitive. Causalities are expected and imminent. Cultural organisations across all art forms are worried about their future, and the reserves that Creative Scotland has had to use now means that there’s far less available transitional funding for unsuccessful applicants.
Whilst the future for Scottish culture was looking bleak, there was at least some hope that organisations that are unsuccessful in securing Multi-year Funding would have some time to remain operational, pivot their business model and potentially find an alternative way forward. With Creative Scotland’s reserves now depleted, many unsuccessful organisations will soon vanish from the fabric of our cultural landscape, and with them, many creative opportunities and a significant part of our cultural identity as we know it today.
RFOs have been on stand-still funding since 2018. In the face of high inflation, rising interest rates, cost of living challenges, issues around staff retention and recruitment, the impact of Brexit, the legacy of Covid and a whole myriad of broader problems currently facing our sector, for Creative Scotland’s budget cut to have been re-instated, the future of music and culture in Scotland is now at significant and immediate risk. The foundations upon which it supported are being eroded at an increasingly alarming rate, and unless intervention is made by the Scottish Government, it will have impacts for decades to come.
Outwith the significant economic contribution that music makes to Scotland’s economy (£581m through music tourism alone in 2022, as noted in UK Music’s ‘Here, There And Everywhere’ report – and this is only based on events with 1500+ capacity), it’s important to remember that the value generated by the sector far extends an economic one.
With the Scottish Government has stated that they’re committed to building a well-being economy – which serves and prioritises the collective well-being of current and future generations – it’s fundamental to highlight just how intrinsic music and culture are to achieving that vision.
Culture is our identity; it’s how we see ourselves, how we see our place in the world and how we relate to others. It’s the stories of life in Scotland, and it underpins mental well-being – both collectively and individually – in many different ways. The silences that echoed across 2020 as live music vanished from our lives serve as a firm reminder of this. Unless intervention is made now, we’ll be lucky if there are whispers in the years to come.
We urge the Scottish Government to recognise the desperate situation of a vitally important sector; economically, socially and culturally. It’s essential that Creative Scotland has the resources to both support and preserve it.
Robert Kilpatrick – Interim CEO and Creative Director, Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA)
CAMPAIGN FOR THE ARTS
The Scottish Government is breaking its promise on arts funding.
In February, thousands joined our campaign against plans for a £6.6 million cut to Creative Scotland, the public body responsible for investing in Scottish arts and culture. Ministers responded by abandoning the cut and instead heralded a “£6.6 million uplift … supporting the arts and cultural sector at this challenging time”.
But seven months on, the £6.6 million pledged to Creative Scotland hasn’t been delivered. And now the Culture Secretary Angus Robertson has told them that it won’t be.
This extraordinary short-changing of Scottish culture midway through the year has forced Creative Scotland to raid its limited reserves as a one-off, emergency measure. Otherwise, regularly funded arts organisations in Scotland would have seen their funding cut by as much as 40% as soon as next month.
This is absolutely no way to treat Scotland’s arts and culture, let alone in a perfect storm of economic pressures and post-pandemic challenges. This ‘U-turn on a U-turn’ puts treasured venues and companies, thousands of jobs and access to Scottish culture at risk.
We urge the Culture Secretary Angus Robertson to:
Honour the Scottish Government’s commitment in February to provide “an uplift of £6.6 million for Creative Scotland for 2023-24″.
Scrap any proposal to cut Creative Scotland funding from the 2023-24 Autumn Budget Revision.
Commit to maintaining and increasing investment in arts and culture from 2024-5, for the benefit of everybody in Scotland.
The SNP’s 2021 manifesto said “culture is central to who we are as a nation”, and that “the pandemic has demonstrated more than ever how vital it is to our wellbeing, mental health and sense of belonging”.5
But Scotland’s cultural sector has not fully recovered from the pandemic, during which it was one of the hardest-hit sectors. For many, incomes have fallen and reserves have dried up. Now, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, costs are rising and uncertainty is rife. This is not the time to cut vital, core funding on which artists and organisations depend.
Economic pressures have already led to the permanent closure of the Filmhouse cinemas in Edinburgh and Aberdeen, the Blue Arrow Jazz Club in Glasgow and the Nevis Ensemble, which worked across the country. We cannot afford to lose any more arts organisations – or the benefits they bring to our lives, communities and society
Creative Scotland’s 120 Regularly Funded Organisations (RFOs) directly employ 5,000 workers, support 25,500 individual artists and provide millions of opportunities for people across Scotland to engage with the arts and culture.
Of these, Edinburgh-based arts organisations include:
(Organisation – Art form– Average annual grant)
Arika – Multi – £200,000
Arts and Business Scotland – Creative Industries – £200,000
MORE than sixty artists will open their studios to visitors as Largo Arts Week kicks off on Saturday July 16 in Fife’s “Robinson Crusoe” village of Lower Largo.
The festival combines art, concerts, free gigs and talks with renowned crime novelists Sir Ian Rankin and Val McDermid each featuring in “an audience with” session.
The third annual Largo Arts Week – www.largoartsweek.com – runs from Saturday July 16 – Sunday July 24 and will also feature appearances by folk music legend Rab Noakes, Americana R&B guitarist Brooks Williams, international sculptor David Mach, singer and broadcaster Richard Jobson and children’s illustrator Jill Calder.
A total of 66 artists – nearly double the number who participated in the festival’s inaugural year in 2019 – will be exhibiting in 36 homes and studios, which will be open to the public throughout the week.
Lower Largo is famous as the birthplace of Alexander Selkirk, the man who inspired the story of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.
Val McDermid and Ian Rankin will take part in “an audience with” events in the village’s Crusoe Hotel, being interviewed by Skids frontman and broadcaster Richard Jobson, who also hails from Fife.
The Crusoe Hotel will be the main ‘hub’ for the Festival with the Upper Largo Hotel and community café The Aurrie as other key venues.
Festival director Andrew Stenson said: “It’s shaping up to be a fantastic week of art and music and we hope there is something for everyone in the programme with the combination of internationally-known artists and writers along with local artistic talent.”
Key highlights of the festival include:
Scots folk music legend Rab Noakes, who is making his third appearance at the Arts Week, will join Georgia-born guitarist and Americana songwriter Brooks Williams in a gig at community venue, The Aurrie.
Internationally recognised opera singer, soprano Charlotte Whittle, will also give a recital at the community venue.
Award winning illustrator and calligrapher Jill Calder, whose work has featured in children’s picture books, huge hospital murals and global advertising campaigns, will be stage a Children’s Workshop at the Community Library.
Lower Largo’s harbour, next to its historic pier, will be the location for an open-air free concert for the community on Friday 22nd July, featuring a retro 80’s band.
Local bands Astral Suns, Longway, The Passing Stages and The Best Dressed Blues Band will be playing in a series of free gigs at the Upper Largo Hotel.
You can watch all our 2021 events from home, or visit our new Festival Village at @eca_edinburgh, where you can browse our Festival Bookshop, enjoy events streamed to a screen in the open air and join us in-studio for select events (on sale 22 July). https://t.co/3lwO5QT13Epic.twitter.com/FybDGkQI1B
— Edinburgh International Book Festival (@edbookfest) July 6, 2021
After a universally challenging year, it’s onwards and upwards as EIBF launch 2021’s exciting programme of live, online Book Festival events.
A stellar line-up of over 300 writers, artists and thinkers from around the globe come together this August to share their ideas and stories for a changing world – and all online events are available to book from today.
During the Festival dates, 14-30 August, enjoy more than 250 events for adults, children and families online, all available to watch on a Pay What You Can basis. Online events offer the opportunity to chat with fellow book lovers and connect with authors by asking questions in our live Q&As.
You can also catch up on events at a time that suits, and there’s unlimited ticket availability for the online programme, so you needn’t worry about missing out. Visit our How To Book page for all the information you’ll need.
In this exciting new chapter for the Book Festival, a wide range of the live-streamed events will also have in-person audiences at our new Festival home, the University of Edinburgh’s Edinburgh College of Art.
Around half of our participants will appear in person in Edinburgh, while others join digitally from their homes around the world. Tickets for socially-distanced in-person events will go on sale from midday on 22 July.
The Book Festival Bookshop will open its doors again during this year’s Festival and you’ll find it located in the beautiful Old Fire Station building at our new site on Lauriston Place. Our online bookshop is open 24/7 and will feature titles from authors in the 2021 programme. Selected authors will be offering book signings online and in-person too.
EIBF Director, Nick Barley, said: “We are incredibly excited to produce our first ‘hybrid’ festival with authors and audiences joining us both in person and online. We welcome a mix of Scottish and international voices to discuss their ideas, hopes and dreams and we aim to explore together how to move ‘Onwards and Upwards’ from this devastating pandemic.
“In our new home at Edinburgh College of Art we have created three broadcast studios, two of which can accommodate limited audiences. These new facilities enable us to offer author conversations to worldwide audiences and to those closer to home who are unable to join us in person, as well as welcoming a limited In-Real-Life audience.
“The Book Festival is at the forefront of the re-emergence of public events, and we have a duty of care to our authors, audiences and staff. It is important that we help rebuild confidence and we have therefore chosen to retain 1 metre social distancing for audiences in the studios. This gives us a reduced capacity of 100 in the New York Times Sculpture Court and 60 in the Baillie Gifford West Court.
“Outside in the courtyard we are recreating the ‘village green’ element of the Book Festival that our audiences enjoy with a bookshop, café, family play area, seating spaces and a big screen upon which a number of the live events will be shown.
“The Book Festival has always aimed to be an oasis of calm and, as ever, this will be a space for audiences to chat, relax, read a book and while away the hours in the summer sunshine.”
Although we can’t promise sun, we will be bringing hundreds of the world’s best writers and thinkers to take part in live conversations this August, including events with Nobel Prize winners Amartya Sen and Kazuo Ishiguro, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Booker Prize winners Salman Rushdie, Bernardine Evaristo, Richard Flanagan and Scotland’s own Douglas Stuart (with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon) and many more. You can browse our entire programme now – we’re sure you’ll find plenty to enterain, challenge and inspire.
This year we’re exploring stories and ideas for a changing world, one dealing with the impact of Covid-19, climate change, poverty, inequality and the varied effects of technology, with authors, politicians, doctors and others discussing the overlapping crises we face – and how we can move forward.
Of course, the Baillie Gifford Children’s Programme is full of fun for all ages – with 60 events to take part in from home including readings, draw-alongs, and dancing.We’re also excited to launch a new series of pre-recorded, audio-only events, available from the very start of the Festival, and a range of walking tours and family trails around Edinburgh.
There’s plenty more to see and discover in our packed 2021 programme. The Book Festival is for everyone – whether you are in a position to pay for a ticket or not, whether you join us in person or from your sofa – so join the conversation this August as we all try to make sense of our changing world.
Ann Cleeves will chat with novelist Eleanor Thom, writer-in-residence for Citizen – a new creative programme exploring what defines our communities and our city today, led by the Edinburgh International Book Festival, North Edinburgh Arts and other partners around the city.
Find out about the life and inspirations of a writer, what makes a community like Shetland the perfect setting for her grizzly tales, and ask your own questions too. Ann will be available to sign copies of her books afterwards.
Tickets: £5/ £2 (Good Neighbours card holders) available at:
Tea and coffee will be provided. Lunch is available to buy from the North Edinburgh Arts café. Crèche facilities available on request – please email to admin@northedinburgharts.co.uk
Multi-award winning writers and household names Irvine Welsh, Sally Magnusson and Jackie Kay feature alongside emerging talents Mick Kitson and Christina Neuwirth in the shortlists for the 2018 Saltire Literary awards, unveiled last night.Continue reading Saltire Literary Awards shortlists announced
