For the first time ever, the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is able to produce all the titles on the Man Booker Prize longlist in braille and giant print ensuring that blind and partially sighted people will be able to read and enjoy all the nominated books as the winning title is announced.
Thanks to the support of the Booker Prize Foundation and the Man Group plc Charitable Trust, RNIB has produced braille, giant print and Talking Books of the shortlisted titles for a number of years. And this year, with a generous gift from an anonymous donor, RNIB is able to produce the remaining titles on the longlist in accessible formats too. The winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction will be announced on Tuesday 12 October at a dinner at London's Guildhall.
Great news for literature fans
Bernard Cowell, a literature fan who is registered blind says: "It was amazing to receive Howard Jacobson's 'The Finkler Question' (Man Booker Prize winner 2010) from the RNIB Talking Book service. We read it for my book club and I was so happy to be able to discuss it with my friends. Sometimes being blind makes you feel like you are two steps behind the rest of the world. RNIB strives to ensure that we're not."
Accessible versions of the books will be available from October 2011 from www.rnib.org.uk/shop
Help RNIB continue to provide reading services for blind and partially people. Join Read for RNIB Day on October 14, visit www.rnib.org.uk/readforrnibday
ENDS
For further information contact Stacey Kerr, Senior Media Officer, RNIB on 020 7391 2290, stacey.kerr@rnib.org.uk
Notes to editors
The Man Booker Prize was the first book prize to introduce a clause in their rules stating that publishers of longlisted books must provide an electronic file to RNIB to aid production of their books in accessible formats.
2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction - longlist
Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending (Jonathan Cape - Random House)
Sebastian Barry, On Canaan's Side (Faber)
Carol Birch, Jamrach's Menagerie (Canongate Books)
Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers (Granta)
Esi Edugyan, Half Blood Blues (Serpent's Tail - Profile)
Yvvette Edwards, A Cupboard Full of Coats (Oneworld)
Alan Hollinghurst, The Stranger's Child (Picador - Pan Macmillan)
Stephen Kelman, Pigeon English (Bloomsbury)
Patrick McGuinness, The Last Hundred Days (Seren Books)
A.D. Miller, Snowdrops (Atlantic)
Alison Pick, Far to Go (Headline Review)
Jane Rogers, The Testament of Jessie Lamb (Sandstone Press)
D.J. Taylor, Derby Day (Chatto & Windus - Random House)
About RNIB
Everyday around 100 people in the UK start to lose their sight. There are around 2 million people in the UK with sight problems. RNIB is the leading charity working in the UK offering practical support, advice and information for anyone with sight difficulties. If you, or someone you know, has a sight problem RNIB can help. Call the RNIB Helpline on 0303 123 9999 or visit www.rnib.org.uk