October has seen the award of two of the literary world's most coveted prizes: the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the Man Booker Prize. The Nobel Prize went to the Belarusian journalist Svetlana Alexeivich:
You can find out more about her and her work here:http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/oct/08/everything-you-need-to-know-about-svetlana-alexievich-winner-of-the-nobel-prize-in-literature
The librarians have also put together a display of books written by or about Nobel prize-winners - not just those in the field of literature - which can be seen in the cabinet by the Montgomery Room. Figures represented include Nelson Mandela, Seamus Heaney, Aung San Suu Kyi , Milton Freeman, Linus Pauling, Martin Luther King and Malala Yousafzai. There's also a list of the rest of the 2015 Nobel prize-winners.
The Man Booker Prize this year went to A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James. Set in Jamaica and the US, the book focuses on the events surrounding the shooting of singer Bob Marley at his Kingston home in 1976.
It is told in the voices of an eclectic cast of characters - gangsters, politicians, hitmen, groupies and CIA agents - some of whom are dead. In exploring the aftermath of the shooting, the novel also charts the rise of the crack cocaine epidemic in the US in the 1980s.
You can find an article by Marlon James and the other five Booker-shortlisted writers, exploring the genesis of their novels, here: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/oct/10/man-booker-prize-2015-shortlist-novels
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