Meet the Booker Prize 2023 judges: Adjoa Andoh

Why do you think the Booker Prize matters and what’s special about it? What sets it apart from other literary awards, and how does the impact of the prize differ from, say, traditional book reviews or social media recommendations? 

I think the reach of the prize is what makes it so special. My eldest daughter, for example, reads the entire shortlist every year - it has the ability to focus the attention of an entire readership.  

The particularity of the prize – in being for English language writers from across the globe – means that it includes a real breadth of work, of perspectives, writing styles and communities. And it has the ability to transform the life of the author, which I’ve witnessed through my friend Bernardine Evaristo, who won the Booker Prize in 2019. It’s a fantastically exciting prize to be involved in.   

Tell us about your reading habits under normal circumstances. what type of books are you usually drawn to for pleasure?  

I often find it hard to make time for pleasurable reading because I generally read a lot for work. But when I can, I really love books that smuggle in history or additional information within the subtext. For example, the true story Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation by John Carlin, which I read in preparation for my role in the film version – Invictus – directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. The book highlights Mandela’s political acumen in seeing the power of sport to bring his newly inherited, fragmented post-Apartheid nation together, as well as giving the historical and political context of racially divided South Africa, all of which Carlin was able to smuggle in under the auspices of South Africa’s being awarded, preparing for, and miraculously winning the 1995 Rugby World Cup. 

Another example is the Easy Rawlins series of novels by Walter Mosley. They are a fantastic series of stylish crime novels, reminiscent of Dashiell Hammett, which I love. They’re novels that speak of a young man from the Southern states moving north during the great migration of the 1920/30s in America. He is building a new life in Los Angeles, as did many African Americans, descended from trafficked and enslaved people, as California and the North seemed to offer a way out of the Jim Crow Laws that blighted their lives down South. You get the history of burgeoning Los Angeles, of Black Los Angeles, of a young man growing into manhood, his family and friends and their trials and tribulations over a series of books that span the late 30s through to the 80s. All of this delivered through some fantastic proper ‘crimey’ crime fiction.  

Aminatta Forna’s Ancestor Stones does the same history smuggling brilliantly. It’s about Sierra Leone, where her father was from and she grew up till the age of nine. The story is told through the lives of various of her aunts and encompasses the family and the nation’s history going back to the late 1700s, right through to the present day. Through the storytelling of these women, you get the story of the nation before and through colonisation and into independence. I love books that are delivering many things at the same time. 

Tell us about one of your favourite Booker Prize-nominated books from previous years, and why you like it.  

The Bone People by Keri Hulme, which I still read frequently - it takes me into a different cultural place in the world. And also A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James, which has all the complexity and richness of Don DeLillo on top form but with Jamaican politics and daily life woven through. Those are books that will stay in my heart as a feeling way beyond the narrative of the book itself.  

Judges of the Booker Prizes have to read several books multiple times. Away from this year’s prize, is there a book that you’ve re-read more than any other and, if so, what makes you keep returning to it? 

I read Beloved by Toni Morrison a lot. I only read it on holiday because it makes me unbelievably sad, but I read it because the writing is so wonderful, as are the characters. 

The Kent Haruf series, Plainsong Trilogy, just brings my blood pressure down with its effortless wisdom, stunning sentences and riveting stories of small-town life. 

What are you particularly looking forward to or already enjoying about the process of judging the Booker Prize, and is there anything that’s surprised you so far?  

One of the things that I’ve really enjoyed is hanging out – virtually – with the other judges and sharing our perspectives on the books. We’re all reading the same book, but we’re all bringing our own tastes, instincts and interests. To see the variety within the conversation and what everyone else is focusing on is hugely interesting. We are disparate people who are one jury, and I’ve really enjoyed watching as we circle and come in and focus on the books that we like. 

What’s really fascinating, especially when you read this number of books, is to see the way authors from across the world are writing about the zeitgeist. Noticing the themes that are preoccupying lots of writers, and seeing the different ways those themes are approached. That’s been surprising for me.