S’pore has means to host ‘Asian’ Booker Prize awards

As a journalism student in London, I was able to attend the Booker Prize ceremony once. It was 1984, and Anita Brookner won for Hotel du Lac.

Singapore should hold a similar Asian version of this, to recognise the best literary work in this part of the world.

Singapore would be a great place to host it, and it would give a huge lift to homegrown writers to work towards greater heights, and perhaps even win a Booker prize one day.

Everything is in place to encourage this happening. All it requires is the support, and a little prodding, from those in high places.

The award ceremony is normally held at the Guildhall in London. Our national monuments such as the National Museum or National Art Gallery could be the venue for a similar event here.

Now known as the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, it is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original novel, written in the English language and published in the United Kingdom.

The same could be organised in Singapore, but as an Asian award event.

What should follow, and this is important, is international renown and success for the winner.

It is also of great significance for the book trade.

Singapore has the means to host a high-profile literary event such as this, and ensure that it is greeted with great anticipation and fanfare, a mark of distinction for authors selected for inclusion in a shortlist or even nominated for the longlist.

Asian writers have been gaining traction with regard to the selection process for the Booker Prize award. Eventually, a Singaporean author might make it.

We must help this process along, by creating the right environment and providing the right exposure for our writers, including giving them the opportunity to mingle and learn from the best at regional or international events.