The Man Booker Prize (better known simply as the Booker Prize) promotes the finest in fiction by rewarding the very best book of the year. The prize is the world's most important literary award and has the power to transform the fortunes of authors and even publishers.

Kiran Desai, who won the prize in 2006 for The Inheritance of Loss, has toured the world since winning. In 2005 John Banville's The Sea saw sales of over a quarter of a million and the publisher has reported a dramatic increase in Banville's backlist sales. In 2004, not only did Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty reach the bestseller lists, but previous winners Life of Pi (2002) and Vernon God Little (2003) were also amongst the bestselling books of the year.

Now in its 39th year, the prize aims to reward the best novel of the year written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. The Man Booker judges are selected from the country's finest critics, writers and academics to maintain the consistent excellence of the prize. The winner of the Man Booker Prize receives £50,000 and both the winner and the shortlisted authors are guaranteed a worldwide readership plus a dramatic increase in book sales.

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