Friday, September 12, 2014

Short-listed US author Joshua Ferris on the Man Booker Shortlist



Last year, the Man Booker Prize — the most prestigious book award in Britain and probably the world — announced it would, for the first time, consider any book written in English and published in the U.K. On Tuesday, its judges made good on their threat; on their final “short list” of six books are two Americans: Karen Jay Fowler (for We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves) and Joshua Ferris. To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, Ferris’s third novel, is the often hilarious, often depressing existential howl of a New York dentist embroiled in a pseudo-ancient religion. We called Ferris up yesterday to talk about his new accolade.

Congratulations on making the short list. How are you?
Well, thanks. I should be good for the rest of the week.


And then what if you win?
Oh, yeah, that could last a month. But it was a surprise just to be long-listed. And then you start trying to figure out your odds with some inscrutable algorithm.


People do, famously, set odds for the Booker Prize.
I’m now something that’s wagered on, which is usually the domain of horses and dogs. But I think it’s totally cool. Though I think my odds are pretty bad. Well, I guess it depends on where you go. Some p
lace I squeaked in at 5-to-1, at another it’s 12-to-1.
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