BBC Radio 4 Front Row – Booker Prize Book Groups
Every Monday and Thursday from 26 October 2020, 7:15pm GMT, except for the second show which will be broadcast on Wednesday 28 October rather than Thursday 29 October.
All six of The Booker Prize shortlisted authors will feature on BBC Radio 4 Front Row’s popular Booker Prize Book Groups which give readers the chance to ask each author their own questions.
- Facebook Event: Diane Cook
- Facebook Event: Tsitsi Dangarembga
- Facebook Event: Avni Doshi
- Facebook Event: Maaza Mengiste
- Facebook Event: Douglas Stuart
- Facebook Event: Brandon Taylor
The Booker Prize Watch Parties – Facebook and YouTube
Every Tuesday and Thursday from 27 October 2020, 5pm GMT
Watch exclusive author conversations and readings as well as interviews with some familiar faces who reveal which book from our 2020 shortlist they are enjoying.
Watch live on our Facebook and YouTube channels.
- Facebook Event: Diane Cook
- Facebook Event: Tsitsi Dangarembga
- Facebook Event: Avni Doshi
- Facebook Event: Maaza Mengiste
- Facebook Event: Douglas Stuart
- Facebook Event: Brandon Taylor
Guardian Live - 2020 Booker Prize shortlist readings
Wednesday 11 November 2020, 7pm GMT
Join the 2020 Booker Prize shortlist for a special livestreamed event in the week leading up to the announcement of this year’s winner. The event will include readings and conversation with the shortlisted authors, hosted by writer and critic Alex Clark.
Tickets available here.
Join Facebook event here.
BBC2 and BBC World News - Booker Prize programme
In the run-up to the winner announcement, BBC Two and BBC World News will broadcast a special 30-minute Booker Prize programme. Novelist and activist Kit de Waal will follow the progress of the prize and examine the wider landscape of the publishing industry in the wake of the unprecedented global events of 2020. She’ll profile the six shortlisted authors and discover the novels in contention for the prize, as well as speaking to members of this year’s judging panel. She’ll also talk to Bernardine Evaristo, winner of last year’s prize and the first black woman to win since The Booker’s inception in 1969, to explore not only the life-changing effect of winning the Booker, but also the issue of diversity in publishing highlighted by this year’s Black Lives Matter movement. And she’ll investigate how the pandemic has affected both the book trade, and the books that we’re reading.
BBC Two – 7.30pm, 12 November
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000pb9d
BBC World News
- 5.30pm &10.30pm, 14 November
- 4.30am & 10.30am, 15 November
- 8.30am, 17 November
- 11.30am, 18 November
The Booker Prizes Shortlist 'In Conversation'
Friday 13 November 2020, 7pm
The 2020 Booker Prize’s regional partner, Doncaster Creates, will bring together the six 2020 shortlisted authors with Sheffield-born poet and former Man Booker International judge, Helen Mort. Doncaster Creates is a dynamic arts programme set up to celebrate the town’s creativity and unsung narratives of ‘grit and grandeur’.
Free event.
Join Facebook event here.
Instagram Live – Waterstones and The Booker Prize collaboration
Monday 16, Tuesday 17, Wednesday 18 November 2020
Over three consecutive nights The Booker Prize and Waterstones and are teaming up to host Instagram Live conversations, featuring interviews with two shortlisted authors every evening. Free event.
16 November
- 6:30pm Tsitsi Dangarembga in conversation with Sara Collins
- 7:15pm Diane Cook in conversation with Sara Collins
17 November
- 1pm Avni Doshi in conversation with Sarah Shaffi
- 7.30pm Maaza Mengiste in conversation with Sarah Shaffi
18 November
- 7:30pm Douglas Stuart in conversation with Simon Savidge
- 8:15pm Brandon Taylor in conversation with Simon Savidge
2020 The Booker Prizes Winner Ceremony
Thursday 19 November 2020, 7:00 – 8:00pm GMT
Broadcast from London’s Roundhouse, it will a be world-class audio experience on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row (7.-8pm) and visual experience livestreamed on BBC iPlayer and BBC Arts Digital (both 7-8pm GMT), which can be accessed by listeners and viewers across the world. It will be hosted by Radio 4’s John Wilson and feature a line-up of special guests, including Barack Obama, HRH The Duccess of Cornwall; and three former Booker Prize winners: Kazuo Ishiguro; Bernardine Evaristo; and Margaret Atwood, as well as a live performance from the Chineke! Chamber Ensemble. For the first time, The Booker Prize and BBC are partnering with The Old Vic to bring the shortlisted books to life through a series of performances directed by The Old Vic Baylis Director Katy Rudd. The six readings, performed and filmed on The Old Vic stage by six celebrated actors: Anne-Marie Duff, Thandie Newton, Ayesha Dharker, Nina Sosanya, Stuart Campbell and Paapa Essiedu, will form an integral part of the ceremony. This year’s Chair of Judges, Margaret Busby, will announce the winner of The 2020 Booker Prize, who will hear the news live and deliver an acceptance speech on screen. The winner will give their first television interview to BBC arts editor Will Gompertz for BBC News.
Free event.
Join Facebook event here.
Winner Event – Southbank Centre
Saturday 23 November 2020, 7:30pm GMT
Following the winner announcement of the 2020 Booker Prize, Southbank Centre will host the first digital event with the winner as part of its 'Inside Out' series. They will be interviewed by Bernardine Evaristo.
Tickets available here.
Join Facebook event here.
Virtual Open Mic Night – Doncaster Creates
Thursday 26 November 2020, 7pm-8.30pm
As part of The Booker Prize’s partnership with Doncaster Creates, a virtual Open Mic night will be held, hosted by 2020 Booker judge Lemn Sissay MBE, writer and broadcaster, and Man Booker shortlisted author Fiona Mozley, who will read passages from their work alongside a host of Doncaster writers.
Join Facebook event here.
Hay Festival - The winner of the 2020 Booker Prize for Fiction
Friday 27 November 2020, 5.30pm-6.15pm
Following the announcement of the 2020 Booker Prize Winner on 19 November, Hay Festival is hosting a digital event with the winning author.