ME+EM is adding books to its autumn agenda thanks to a year-long partnership with the Booker Prize Foundation. Four reading lists will draw from more than 700 prize-nominated novels – handy if you spend longer deciding what to read than actually reading.
The partnership supports the Foundation’s charitable work encouraging people to read fiction, with founder Clare Hornby’s own book club helping spark the idea: “Through my own book club, I’ve seen firsthand how reading, and a shared interest in storytelling, provides an opportunity for community and connection. A great novel has the power to create deep conversation with friends and strangers alike.”
Ali Smith Autumn | Samantha Harvey Orbital | Barbara Pym Quartet in Autumn
Autumn is the theme of the first selection, with eight novels considering change, the natural world and what comes next. Ali Smith’s Autumn and Barbara Pym’s Quartet in Autumn are fitting starting points; then Samantha Harvey’s Orbital and Richard Powers’s The Overstory take readers a little further afield. The list also includes On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle, translated by Barbara J. Haveland, Anita Brookner’s Hotel Du Lac, Muriel Spark’s Loitering with Intent, and Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, the Sea. That’s enough to keep the bedside pile looking ambitious for a good while.
All eight come from the Booker Library, an archive spanning 57 years of prize-nominated fiction. The Foundation also funds Braille and audio editions through the RNIB, supports translators, and runs Books Unlocked, a reading initiative in prisons.
Gaby Wood, chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, explains what the partnership will do: “At the Booker Prize Foundation, we are committed to ensuring that great literature is a vital part of the cultural landscape. Our partnership with ME+EM will enable us to do this for culturally engaged audiences on both sides of the Atlantic, while helping us connect our global community of readers with a brand that values creativity as much as we do. Together, we will share thoughtfully curated reading lists, selected from the over 700 books nominated for the Booker and Bukhman International Booker Prizes, inviting more people to discover the world’s best fiction.”
A second selection will arrive in early December, with books exploring the idea of giving, and further lists will follow in 2027.
by Felicity Carter