Martyn Goff obituary

Bookseller and prime mover behind the Booker prize, Britain’s top literary awardAlthough bookselling framed his professional life, Martyn Goff, who has died aged 91, will be most remembered for his 34 years running what became under his stewardship Britain’s premier literary award – the Booker, now the Man Booker, prize. Goff took over as administrator of the prize in 1973, its fifth year.As director of the National Book League (NBL), which had been near-moribund until his arrival in 1970, he caught people’s attention the following year by creating an innovative literary festival, the Bedford Square Book Bang, in London. Book events at the time were generally stuffy affairs, but despite appalling weather that helped turn the Bloomsbury square into a quagmire, the Book Bang attracted some 50,000 visitors. Little more than a year later, the Publishers Association, which had launched the Booker, passed the administering of the prize to the reinvigorated League. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-03-26 00:00:00 UTC ]

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[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ BBC News | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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