Booker Prize urged to rethink its name over slavery connection

The Booker Prize has been urged to change its name over the literary award’s connections to the slave trade.

Radio 1Xtra DJ Richie Brave, whose original surname is Booker, said his ancestors had been enslaved by the founders of the firm which established the prize.

The organisers of the prize, which is the most prestigious award in UK publishing, updated their website after Brave complained about their initial description of the brothers Josias and George Booker.

The two men were initially described as having “managed” enslaved people prompting Brave to write: “Josias & George did not "manage" my family. They enslaved them. Thats why we STILL have their last name. They were enslavers, not "managers".”

That prompted them to update the history section on their website explaining the men actually “enslaved nearly 200 people”.

They added the present day prize, which is now funded by a charitable foundation, has “no financial ties with the Booker Group” but said: “we consider Booker’s history to be the Prize’s prehistory. Bearing in mind the impact of the past on racial inequity in the present, we have outlined Booker’s 19th century origins below.”

Brave thanked the foundation for “clearly and accurately stating that the Booker brothers were enslavers” but told the Guardian they should “start asking themselves some questions around the name”.

He said: “That name was inflicted upon us. As an organisation, you have a choice to change your name to something different.”

In a statement, the Booker prize said: “A descendant of people enslaved by the Booker brothers in the 19th century contacted us on social media yesterday about an inaccuracy in a description of Booker’s history on our website. We appreciated his getting in touch and fully agree with his point about the importance of language.

“We have updated the article accordingly and apologise for the distress caused. As the article also explains, further research into this important history is in progress, which we will share once it’s complete. This research will contribute to any future thinking.

“The Booker prizes are committed to excellence in literature and mindful of the conditions for justice. We will continue to reflect on the ways in which we represent this to readers everywhere.”

The prize’s connections to slavery have been highlighted before, the Guardian reported, most prominently when the 1972 Booker winner, John Berger, used his acceptance speech to announce his intention to “turn this prize against itself” and donate half of his winnings to the British Black Panther movement.

The prize, set up in 1969, has previously been won by names such as Salman Rushdie and Hilary Mantel.

The winner receives £50,000 and can expect to see their book shoot up the best-seller lists thanks to the surrounding publicity.

It is awarded annually to the “best sustained work of fiction written in English and published in the UK and Ireland”.