From the fascinating (and often disturbing) Booker stats here, this one in particular stood out:
“Of the 45 Booker-winning novels, 16 have been set in the present, 9 have been set in the recent past, 10 have been set in the historical past, 10 have been set in a mixture of the present and the past. 0 have been set in the future.”
This is disturbing because (along with many of the statistics on gender, nationality and educational background) it seems to confirm the frequently voiced assertion that this country’s premier literary prize has been content to surround itself with an aura of conformity. It likes writers who play it safe, who are less curious about where we are going than where we have been.
I think we should view that not so much as an insult, but as a challenge…