• First literary prize to launch app
• Free to download
• Full chronological history of the prize over four decades
• Exclusive partnership with T-Mobile and GoSpoken

The Man Booker Prize, the leading literary award in the English speaking world, today, 26 August 2010, unveils exciting new digital plans for the 2010 prize.

The Man Booker Prize app will be free to download and will be the UK's first app for a literary prize.  The free app will offer access to the Man Booker Prize archive and will be available to download from the App Store to an Apple iPhone or iPod touch or at www.themanbookerprize.com from 26 August.

The app, which was created by award winning digital agency Vexed Digital, will offer a full chronological history of the prize including information about the judges and the longlist, shortlist and winning authors and books.  App users will be able to access exclusive author interviews, video content and audio and text extracts from selected Man Booker Prize titles.

At every stage of the Prize the Man Booker Prize app will give users the most up to date information on the shortlist and winner announcements.

A unique GPS service will also allow users to search for their local book shop or to buy directly from online retailers' websites.

In addition, the Man Booker Prize announces an exclusive partnership with T-Mobile via the digital book retailer GoSpoken.  The prize has worked with GoSpoken since 2008 to provide audio and text extracts of the longlisted books direct to mobile phones. 

The new partnership with T-Mobile includes content on the mobile phone provider's home page, "T-Zones" which can be accessed by the millions of T-Mobile users with internet connection.  There will be exclusive competitions and prizes for users who buy a copy of a longlisted or shortlisted title or the winning book.

The Man Booker Prize website continues to grow and has become the central hub for comment on all contemporary literature.  Traffic to the website now comes from over 150 countries and the site receives over 40,000 visitors at each stage of the prize.

The announcement of the 2010 longlist of 13 titles on 27 July saw the biggest spike in Twitter traffic with a total reader reach of over 90,000, including over 48,000 unique users.

Ion Trewin, Literary Director of the Man Booker Prizes, commented, "The Man Booker has always been innovative in its marketing. The Man Booker Prize App is an exciting way of getting to an additional band of potential readers of this year's longlist and shortlist."

"We're very proud of work with such a well established and prestigious literary prize," said Richard Davies, Owner of Vexed Digital. "In the last few years, we've seen an explosion of interest in digital technology from the publishing industry. The Man Booker Prize is the latest literary client we've worked with to bring its ideas to life in a creative and cutting edge way."

This year's Man Booker Prize shortlist will be announced on Tuesday 7 September at a press conference at Man Group's London headquarters.  The winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2010 will be revealed on Tuesday 12 October at a dinner at London's Guildhall and will be broadcast on the BBC Ten O'Clock News.

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction rewards the winner with a cheque for £50,000 and worldwide recognition. Last year's winning novel, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, has since sold over half a million copies. Each of the six shortlisted authors, including the winner, receives £2,500 and a designer bound edition of their shortlisted book.

For further information about the prize please visit www.themanbookerprize.com

For all press enquiries please contact

Jill Cotton or Lucy Chavasse at Colman Getty

Tel: 020 7631 2666

E-mail: jill@colmangetty.co.uk

- ends -

Notes to Editors:

• The Man Booker Prize app will launch 26 August 2010. It is free and available from the Apple App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.themanbookerprize.com

• The Booker Prize for Fiction was first awarded in 1969, and Man was announced as the sponsor of the prize in April 2002, with a five year extension agreed in 2006. For a full history of the prize including previous winners, shortlisted authors and judges visit the website: www.themanbookerprize.com. It is a major media and information tool which is accessed worldwide with up to the minute information about both the annual prize and the biennial Man Booker International Prize. Featuring news, interviews and written pieces as well as a lively forum and full history archive of the prize, the site is used by journalists, bloggers and general members of the public on a daily basis.

• The Advisory Committee, which advises on any changes to the rules and on the selection of the judges, represents all sides of the book world. Its members are: Ion Trewin, Chair (Literary Director, Man Booker Prizes); Richard Cable, publisher; Mark Chilton, Company Secretary, Booker Ltd; Peter Clarke, Chief Executive, Man; Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust; Maggie Fergusson, writer and Secretary of the Royal Society of Literature; Basil Comely, BBC TV; Derek Johns, literary agent; Peter Kemp, Chief Fiction Reviewer, The Sunday Times; Dominic Myers, Managing Director of Waterstone's; Nigel Newton, publisher; Fiammetta Rocco, literary editor, The Economist (Man Booker International Prize administrator); Eve Smith (Company Secretary, the Booker Prize Foundation); and Robert Topping; Topping & Company Booksellers.

• The Booker Prize Foundation is a registered charity (no 1090049) which, since 2002, has been responsible for the award of the prize. The trustees of the Booker Prize Foundation are former Chairman of Booker plc, Jonathan Taylor CBE (Chair); Lord Baker of Dorking CH; playwright and President of the Royal Literary Fund, Ronald Harwood CBE; former Chair of the British Council, Baroness Kennedy QC; broadcaster, James Naughtie; biographer, Victoria Glendinning; writer, Baroness Neuberger DBE and former Finance Director of Rentokil plc, Christopher Pearce. Martyn Goff CBE, former Man Booker Prize administrator, is President of the Foundation and Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne is a Vice President.

• The Man Booker Prize is sponsored by Man, a world-leading alternative investment management business. With a broad range of funds for institutional and private investors globally, it is known for its performance, innovative product design and investor service. Man manages around$39 billion.

• The original business was founded in 1783. Today, Man is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100 Index with a market capitalisation of around £4 billion.

• Man is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the FTSE4Good Index. Man also supports many awards, charities and initiatives around the world, including sponsorship of the Man Booker literary prizes.

• Further information can be found at www.mangroupplc.com

• Booker is the UK's leading food wholesaler with over 170 branches nationwide. It serves over 350,000 independent businesses.

• Vexed is an independent digital agency. Vexed creates innovative and engaging user-centric experiences no matter what the digital channel. From building and implementing multi channel e-commerce strategies, through to extending brand activity into the social space and building service led branded communities. We have been fearless champions of social media from day one and have been working on mobile platforms since the dawn of WAP. Our approach is based on strong strategic thinking combined with excellence in both technology and creativity. Most of all we help our clients grow their business through a deep passion for what we do. Having spent over 10 years in the digital space we pack a huge amount of expertise into a free thinking, flexible and award winning agency.

• Mobcast Services Ltd provide digital book services, software & platform solutions for major publishing houses, telcos, retailers & device manufacturers around the world, including GoSpoken.com - Mobcast's direct to consumer site.

• The Mobcast philosophy is for the customer to access and read books on any compatible device from mobile phones to media players; the infrastructure that powers this cross-platform offering can be easily rebranded for any partner looking for a digital book service solution.

Professor Sir John Holman, Director of the National Science Learning Centre, said:

"The steady growth in the number of students taking A-level Sciences has continued this year, and there has been further impressive growth in Mathematics and Further Mathematics.  There is still a long way to go, but it is clear that we are seeing the beginning of a renaissance in science and mathematics in schools and colleges.  The days of university Physics and Chemistry departments closing due to lack of students are a long way behind us - indeed, the story now is of the fierce competition for places to study STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects at university. 

"The growth in Sciences and Mathematics uptake is a tribute to the efforts of teachers of these subjects, and to the organizations that support them, including the Science Learning Centres, the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics and the Further Mathematics Support Programme.  It is also a sign of the growing realism among young people and their parents about the subject choices that give them the best chances of a well-paid and interesting job.

"The challenge now is to maintain growth year-on-year - and the numbers taking AS levels this summer suggest that this increase will continue in 2011.  However, if students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds are to benefit from the value of Science and Mathematics A-levels, it is important that they get good careers advice early on.  Schools and colleges need to give students clear guidance on the A-level subject choices that are most useful to their careers, and not allow them to be steered towards the subjects that seem easiest, but have less value in the increasingly competitive university entrance and jobs market."

The figures

A-level candidate numbers, all UK

• A Level Mathematics numbers are up from 72,475 in 2009 to 77,001 in 2010, a 6.2% increase
• A level Further Mathematics numbers are up from 10,473 in 2009 to 11,682, a 11% increase
• A Level Physics numbers are up from 29,436 to 30,976, a 5.2% increase
• A Level Chemistry numbers are up from 42,491 to 44,051, a 3.7% increase
• A Level Biology numbers are up from 55,485 to 57,854, a 4.3% increase

AS level candidates, all UK

• AS Mathematics numbers are up from 103,312 to 112,847, a 9.2% increase
• AS Further Mathematics numbers are up from 13,164 to 14,884, a 13.1% increase
• AS Physics numbers are up from 41,955 to 45,534, a 8.5% increase
• AS Chemistry numbers are up from 58,473 to 62,232, a 6.4% increase
• AS Biology numbers are up from 79,112  to 83,408, a 5.4% increase

NB: AS numbers will not all translate into A-level numbers the following year, because some students finish their study of the subject at the end of AS.

For more press information, please contact Ellie Backhouse at Colman Getty on 020 7631 2666 / ellie@colmangetty.co.uk

Notes for Editors

Professor Holman may be available for interview.

MyScience.co Limited was established in 2005 by the White Rose University Consortium, which comprises of the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam and York. Myscience operates the National Science Learning Centre as a centre of excellence for science teachers' continuing professional development and the National STEM Centre (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) which brings together key national organisations working within the STEM communities, and are co-located on the attractive campus of the University of York.

The company's activities have expanded to include the operation of the full network of Science Learning Centres which are situated within each of the government's regional areas, as well as a wide range of national and international projects in the field of STEM education.

The National Science Learning Centre (NSLC) and the regional network of Science Learning Centres provide inspirational and innovative professional development for science teachers, technicians, lecturers and teaching assistants from across the UK. There is a regional Science Learning Centre in each of the 9 English regions and a National Centre serving the whole of the UK.  All learners deserve an engaging and motivational science education.  We are passionate about helping schools and colleges to achieve this and believe that it can be brought about through high quality and relevant subject-specific professional development.  

 PERMANENT BRONZE STATUE OF
AIR CHIEF MARSHAL SIR KEITH PARK
TO BE UNVEILED IN WATERLOO PLACE, LONDON SW1

ON 15 SEPTEMBER 2010, BATTLE OF BRITAIN DAY
15.00hrs BST

• Installation in Waterloo Place at a formal commemoration ceremony
• Unveiling taking place on Battle of Britain Day in the 70^th anniversary year of Battle of Britain
• This will be the only major London public event due to take place on Battle of Britain Day
• Statue commissioned by the Sir Keith Park Memorial Campaign and designed by Les Johnson

Information for media:

• Media facilities will be provided on the day from 14.00hrs
• Register for access and request interviews and existing film footage/photography with Charlotte Kirkham 020 7920 2331/Kirkham@mcomgroup.com

15^th September 2010 - A permanent bronze statue of Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park, who commanded 11 Group Fighter Command which defended London and the South East of England throughout the Battle of Britain, will be unveiled in the 70^th anniversary year of the Battle of Britain on 15 September 2010, Battle of Britain Day, at a formal ceremony in Waterloo Place, London, SW1.

The unveiling will be attended by some 1000 invited guests, including Battle of Britain veterans and members of Sir Keith Park's family.  Also in attendance will be representatives of the Commonwealth and other countries whose airmen flew alongside The Royal Air Force during the Battle, as well as supporters of the Sir Keith Park Memorial Campaign.

The unveiling marks the culmination of a two year campaign, which also saw the temporary installation (November 2009 to May 2010) of a 5 metre high statue of Sir Keith on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. This statue is now on permanent display in the Battle of Britain Hall at the RAF Museum in Hendon.

Sir Keith Park commanded 11 Group Fighter Command, which was responsible for the defence of London and the South East of England. He therefore commanded the squadrons which bore the brunt of the fighting in the Battle of Britain. The failure to defeat the RAF in 1940 is seen as Germany's first major setback in the Second World War - forcing the abandonment of the planned invasion of Britain.

Park was a New Zealander, who had fought in the First World War in the field artillery first at Gallipoli, and then the Somme where he was wounded and evacuated to England. Medically graded unfit to continue service with the artillery, Park joined the Royal Flying Corps, remaining with the air arm when it was re-formed as the Royal Air Force.

Marshal of the RAF, Lord Tedder, said of Park: "If ever any one man won the Battle of Britain, he did. I don't believe it is recognised how much this one man, with his leadership, his calm judgement and his skill, did to save not only this country, but the world."

Terry Smith, Chairman of the Sir Keith Park Memorial Campaign, said:

"This permanent bronze statue is a fitting memorial to Sir Keith, situated as it is in the heart of the capital city that he did so much to defend in 1940. It is all the more fitting that the statue is in view of New Zealand House as Sir Keith was a New Zealander. Sir Keith was neglected in his own lifetime, so it will give me great pleasure to see him receive the public recognition that is long over due, especially as the statue will be unveiled on Battle of Britain day in this the 70^th anniversary of the Battle.

- ENDS -

Media enquiries:

Charlotte Kirkham                                  James Wallis

Tel. +44 (0)7989 528421                        Tel. +44 (0)7775 556000

Kirkham@mcomgroup.com                    Wallis@mcomgroup.com

Notes to Editors

1.    Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Rodney Park, GCB, KBE, MC and Bar, DFC, DCL, MA, RAF was the New Zealand born RAF Air Vice-Marshal who commanded Number 11 Group, Fighter Command, responsible for the air defence of London and South East England during the Battle of Britain. His inspirational leadership and tactical brilliance was central to Britain winning the battle, which in turn helped determine the outcome of the entire Second World War. Sir Keith went on to lead the air defence of Malta in 1942, subsequently reaching the rank of Air Chief Marshal in South East Asia at the end of the war. During the First World War, Sir Keith served at Gallipoli and then the Somme before becoming a pilot and shooting down 20 enemy aircraft.

2.    The design by sculptor Les Johnson has been used for both the permanent statue and the statue that had been exhibited temporarily for six months on Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth. 

3.    The permanent bronze statue is in the process of being created by Les Johnson and the Bronze Age Sculpture Casting Foundry in Limehouse. The Trafalgar Square statue is made of fibreglass with a bronze resin finish. It was created in New Zealand by Weta Workshops.

4.    The Sir Keith Park Memorial Campaign was launched on 7 March 2008 when Battle of Britain pilots, senior serving RAF officers, a great-great niece of Sir Keith Park, politicians and many other supporters assembled in Trafalgar Square beside a full-size replica Spitfire. 

5.    The Campaign has received support from a broad constituency including the RAF, Battle of Britain veterans, members of the Park family and the New Zealand cricket team. It also secured the support of the leader of every New Zealand political party, including the Prime Minister and Defence Minister. In this country more than 100 MPs and a number of House of Lords members from all parties, former politicians such as Tony Benn and Lord Tebbit, as well as well-known names such as Sir Patrick Moore, Frederick Forsythe, Dan Snow and Edward Fox, have backed the Campaign.

6.    Over 10,000 people have signed the various Campaign petitions.

7.    Terry Smith is the Chief Executive Officer of Tullett Prebon plc and Deputy Chairman of Collins Stewart plc. He has a keen interest in military history. For more information please visit www.terrysmithblog.com.

8.    Other supporters of the campaign include: Boris Johnson, Mayor of London; the Worshipful Lord Mayor of Westminster; Algy Cluff; Marshal of the Royal Air Force the Lord Craig of Radley; Air Chief Marshal Sir Brian Burridge; Air Marshal Clifford Spink; Lord Lee of Trafford; Lord Selkirk; Rt Hon Lord Trefgarne; Dr. Vincent Cable MP; Mark Field MP; Richard Benyon MP; Hon. Nicholas Soames MP and Sir Stuart Rose.

9.    For more information, please visit our website www.sirkeithpark.com.

Lumos today (29 July 2010) announces that it has appointed a new interim Chief Executive to replace Dr Richard Alderslade who stands down as Chief Executive of the charity from the end of the month.  Dr Alderslade is leaving to work with the Regional Office of the World Health Organisation in Copenhagen.

The Board of Lumos has appointed Stephen Dunmore as interim Chief Executive on an eight-month contract from Monday 26 July 2010 to 31 March 2011.  The full time CEO post will be advertised shortly.

Sir Roger Singleton, Trustee of Lumos, said: "On behalf of the board, I would like to extend our thanks to Dr Alderslade for his work over the past four years.  He has steered the charity through a period of growth - taking us from a very small start-up charity operating in one country to a multi-programme approach working to instigate change in several countries in Eastern Europe - and an extensive and succesful re-branding of the organisation.

"We are delighted to be welcoming Stephen Dunmore to the role of interim Chief Executive.  Stephen has a wealth of experience in the voluntary sector.  Prevously Chief Executive of the Big Lottery Fund, he has more recently held senior strategic roles at the BBC's independent Charity Appeals Advisory Committee and The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. He will bring a fresh, strategic approach to the future direction of the organisation and we look forward to working with him."

Stephen Dunmore said: "I very much look forward to leading a charity that is doing so much to transform the lives of institutionalised children in Moldova and the Czech Republic, working closely with governments and communities in these countries and beyond.  Key priorities will be to develop a medium term business plan covering all areas of Lumos' work - our demonstration projects, advocacy, advisory role and fundraising - and to ensure that we have in place organisational structures that can best meet the challenges of our vision for change."

To find out more about the charity's work, visit www.lumos.org.uk.

Ends/...

For further information, please contact: Amy MacLaren or Ellie Backhouse at Colman Getty:

T: +44 (0)20 7631 2666 │ +44 (0)7980 843 088

E: amy@colmangetty.co.uk  │ ellie@colmangetty.co.uk

Notes to Editors:

Stephen Dunmore may be available for interview. Please contact Colman Getty.

About Lumos

Lumos is a charity working to transform the lives of disadvantaged children (registered charity number: 1112575). We want to end the systematic institutionalisation of disadvantaged children across Europe.

We want to see children living in safe, caring environments. We believe this should be the case for all children, whether they're disabled, from an ethnic minority or from an impoverished background. We know our vision is ambitious. We understand that removing children from institutions isn't - in itself - enough. We must work with governments, policy makers and practitioners to enable children to grow up in a family-type setting.

We do this in two ways:

• By being practical and strategic

We have begun pilot initiatives in the Czech Republic and Moldova. We also provide technical assistance to initiatives in other countries that are led by other agencies, such as our work with UNICEF in Montenegro. And we provide a range of professional resources - a telephone support service, toolkits, manuals - to practitioners working in countries to help them close down institutions, and replace them with high quality care.

• By campaigning and advocating

We provide expert advice at the highest level, including governments, United Nations bodies and European institutions. We facilitate peer-to-peer support, bringing together practitioners on the ground with practitioners in the UK to help give children childhoods. We work with children so they have a voice and are involved in the deinstitutionalisation process. We raise awareness, in the UK, in Europe and across the globe, so that, one day, children won't be locked away: so they can enjoy their childhood.

About our work

Lumos is currently working on major reform programmes in the Czech Republic and Moldova. 

The charity has been assisting the Czech government to develop a National Action Plan for the reform of all its services for vulnerable children and families.  It is now working in the county of Pardubice, helping the local authorities to transform all of their large residential institutions for children.  In Moldova, the charity is supporting the government and local authorities to implement large-scale de-institutionalisation programmes as well as an initiative aimed at significantly reducing infant mortality.

Lumos has also been providing advice and support to the European Commission in Brussels on the best way to use funding for reforming the child social protection system in Bulgaria.  We are now setting up a major programme in the country to help accelerate and improve the process of de-institutionalisation.

Stephen Dunmore

Stephen was appointed Chair of Capacitybuilders (a Non-Departmental Public Body) in October 2009, having spent a year as a non executive board member. Stephen's former roles include chief executive of the Big Lottery Fund and chief executive of the New Opportunities Fund. He has also been interim chief executive of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and of the Responsible Gambling Fund/Responsible Gambling Strategy Board. Currently, he is Chair of National Family Mediation (a charity), Chair of the BBC's Charity Appeals Advisory Committee, a member of NCVO's Funding Commission and a trustee of the Prince of Wales Countryside Fund.

Our Board

The Board of Trustees of Lumos are: J. K. Rowling (Chair), Dr Kazem Behbehani, Bryan Ellis and Sir Roger Singleton.

www.themanbookerprize.com

The judges for the 2010 Man Booker Prize for Fiction today, Tuesday 27 July, announce the longlist for the prize, the leading literary award in the English speaking world.

A total of 138 books, 14 of which were called in by the judges, were considered for the 'Man Booker Dozen' longlist of 13 books.

The longlist includes:

Author                                    Title (Publisher)

Peter Carey                            Parrot and Olivier in America (Faber and Faber)

Emma Donoghue                   Room (Pan MacMillan - Picador)

Helen   Dunmore                     The Betrayal (Penguin - Fig Tree)

Damon Galgut                        In a Strange Room (Grove Atlantic - Atlantic Books)

Howard Jacobson                   The Finkler Question (Bloomsbury)

Andrea Levy                           The Long Song (Headline Publishing Group - Headline Review)

Tom McCarthy                       C (Random House - Jonathan Cape)

David   Mitchell                        The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (Hodder & Stoughton - Sceptre)

Lisa Moore                              February (Random House - Chatto & Windus)

Paul Murray                            Skippy Dies (Penguin - Hamish Hamilton)

Rose Tremain                         Trespass (Random House - Chatto & Windus)

Christos Tsiolkas                     The Slap (Grove Atlantic - Tuskar Rock)

Alan Warner                            The Stars in the Bright Sky (Random House - Jonathan Cape)

The chair of judges, Andrew Motion, comments:

"Here are thirteen exceptional novels - books we have chosen for their intrinsic quality, without reference to the past work of their authors. Wide-ranging in their geography and their concern, they tell powerful stories which make the familiar strange and cover an enormous range of history and feeling. We feel confident that they will provoke and entertain."

Peter Carey is one of only two authors to have won the prize twice, in 1988 for Oscar and Lucinda and 2001 for True History of the Kelly Gang.  In 1985 his book Illywhacker was shortlisted for the prize and Theft: A Love Story was longlisted in 2006.

Three authors have been shortlisted before: David Mitchell (twice shortlisted in 2001 for number9dream and in 2004 for Cloud Atlas), Damon Galgut (in 2003 for The Good Doctor) and Rose Tremain (shortlisted in 1989 for Restoration). She was also a judge for the Booker Prize in 1988 and 2000.

Howard Jacobson has been longlisted twice for his book Kalooki Nights in 2006 and for Who's Sorry Now? in 2002.

The 2010 shortlist will be announced on Tuesday 7 September at a press conference at Man Group's London headquarters.  The winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2010 will be revealed on Tuesday 12 October at a dinner at London's Guildhall and will be broadcast on the BBC Ten O'Clock News.

The winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction will receive £50,000 and can look forward to greatly increased sales and worldwide recognition.  Each of the six shortlisted authors, including the winner, will receive £2,500 and a designer bound edition of their shortlisted book.

Chaired by Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate, the 2010 judges are Rosie Blau, Literary Editor of the Financial Times; Deborah Bull, formerly a dancer, now Creative Director of the Royal Opera House as well as a writer and broadcaster; Tom Sutcliffe, journalist, broadcaster and author and Frances Wilson, biographer and critic.

For further information about the prize please visit www.themanbookerprize.com

For all press enquiries please contact

Lucy Chavasse or Jill Cotton at Colman Getty

Tel: 020 7631 2666

E-mail: lucy@colmangetty.co.uk or jill@colmangetty.co.uk

- ends -

The Judges

Andrew Motion (Chair) is Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway College, University of London and co-founder of the online Poetry Archive.  He was Poet Laureate from 1999 until 2009. He has received numerous awards for his writing.  His group study, The Lamberts, won the Somerset Maugham Award and his authorised life of Philip Larkin won the Whitbread Prize for Biography.  His most recent collection of poetry is The Cinder Path, which was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award. Andrew Motion was knighted for his services to literature in 2009.

Rosie Blau is Literary Editor of the Financial Times.  Educated at Cambridge and Harvard, she has been a journalist for the past decade, writing for a variety of publications in the UK and US.  She joined the Financial Times in 2003 and has worked as a columnist, arts editor and news editor.

Deborah Bull was a dancer and is now Creative Director of the Royal Opera House as well as a writer and broadcaster.  She danced with The Royal Ballet from 1981 to 2001, the last 10 years as Principal Dancer.  Deborah's books include Dancing Away, a diary of 1998/9.   For three years she contributed a weekly column to the Daily Telegraph.  She broadcasts regularly, including writing and presenting the landmark series for BBC2, The Dancer's Body, in 2002.  She was a member of Arts Council England between 1998 and 2005 and served as a Governor of the BBC between 2003 and 2006.  In 1999 she was awarded a CBE.

Tom Sutcliffe is an author, broadcaster and journalist.  He studied English at Cambridge before joining the BBC where he has since presented A Good Read, Saturday Review and Round Britain Quiz. He was editor of Kaleidoscope, Radio Four's long-running predecessor to Front Row.  He helped launch The Independent newspaper as its arts editor and still writes for the paper as a television reviewer and columnist.  A BBC 2 series, Watching, was based on his book about cinema.

Frances Wilson has a PhD in Henry James and lectured in English Literature for 15 years before becoming a freelance writer. She is author of Literary Seductions: Compulsive Writers and Diverted Readers; The Courtesan's Revenge: Harriette Wilson, the Woman who Blackmailed the King and The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth, which won the British Academy Rose Mary Crawshay Prize. She is a member of the Royal Society of Literature and is currently writing a biography of J Bruce Ismay, chairman of the company that owned the ill-fated trans-Atlantic liner, the 'Titanic'.

Notes to Editors:

• The 2010 longlist consists of 13 books. The rules state that a longlist of twelve or thirteen books - 'The Man Booker Dozen' - are selected, followed by a shortlist of six. Each year UK publishers may submit two full-length novels published between 1 October 2009 and 30 September 2010 and in addition any title by an author who has previously won the Booker or Man Booker Prize may be submitted. Any book by an author who has been shortlisted within the last ten years is also entitled to automatic entry.

• The Booker Prize for Fiction was first awarded in 1969, and Man was announced as the sponsor of the prize in April 2002, with a five year extension agreed in 2006. For a full history of the prize including previous winners, shortlisted authors and judges visit the website: www.themanbookerprize.com. It is a major media and information tool which is accessed worldwide with up to the minute information about both the annual prize and the biennial Man Booker International Prize. Featuring news, interviews and written pieces as well as a lively forum and full history archive of the prize, the site is used by journalists, bloggers and general members of the public on a daily basis.

• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Fourth Estate) won the 2009 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, and has gone on to sell over half a million copies in the UK alone. The paperback topped the mass market fiction bestseller lists within a week of publication - a first for a Man Booker winner.

• The Advisory Committee, which advises on any changes to the rules and on the selection of the judges, represents all sides of the book world. Its members are: Ion Trewin, Chair (Literary Director, Man Booker Prizes); Richard Cable, publisher; Mark Chilton, Company Secretary, Booker Ltd; Peter Clarke, Chief Executive, Man; Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust; Maggie Fergusson, writer and Secretary of the Royal Society of Literature; Basil Comely, BBC TV; Derek Johns, literary agent; Peter Kemp, Chief Fiction Reviewer, The Sunday Times; Dominic Myers, Managing Director of Waterstone's; Nigel Newton, publisher; Fiammetta Rocco, literary editor, The Economist (Man Booker International Prize administrator); Eve Smith (Company Secretary, the Booker Prize Foundation); and Robert Topping; Topping & Company Booksellers.

• The Booker Prize Foundation is a registered charity (no 1090049) which, since 2002, has been responsible for the award of the prize. The trustees of the Booker Prize Foundation are former Chairman of Booker plc, Jonathan Taylor CBE (Chair); Lord Baker of Dorking CH; playwright and President of the Royal Literary Fund, Ronald Harwood CBE; former Chair of the British Council, Baroness Kennedy QC; broadcaster, James Naughtie; biographer, Victoria Glendinning; writer, Baroness Neuberger DBE and former Finance Director of Rentokil plc, Christopher Pearce. Martyn Goff CBE, former Man Booker Prize administrator, is President of the Foundation and Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne is a Vice President.

• The Man Booker Prize is sponsored by Man, a world-leading alternative investment management business. With a broad range of funds for institutional and private investors globally, it is known for its performance, innovative product design and investor service. Man manages around$39 billion.

The original business was founded in 1783. Today, Man is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100 Index with a market capitalisation of around £4 billion.

Man is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and the FTSE4Good Index. Man also supports many awards, charities and initiatives around the world, including sponsorship of the Man Booker literary prizes.

Further information can be found at www.mangroupplc.com 

• Booker is the UK's leading food wholesaler with over 170 branches nationwide. It serves over 350,000 independent businesses.

• The Booker Prize Archive was given on loan in 2003 to Oxford Brookes University where it now resides.

• Blind and partially sighted people can now read any of the books shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize on the day the winner is announced. The production of the books in braille and giant print is funded by the Booker Prize Foundation, and the Man Group PLC Charitable Trust pays separately for the production of Talking Books.

• The Foundation is also working with the Sound Archive of the British Library onits 'National Life Stories - Authors' Lives' project by funding archive interviews withshortlisted authors.