Former President Barack Obama will appear at the virtual Booker Prize ceremony next week.
The Booker Prize Foundation announced Obama’s planned appearance in a news release on Thursday. The former president “will talk about what reading Booker Prize novels has meant to him,” the foundation said.
Obama is an avid reader with a soft spot for the kind of literary fiction that the Booker honors. Last year, he urged readers to pick up Susan Choi’s Trust Exercise, Sally Rooney’s Normal People, and Bernardine Evaristo’s Booker Prize–winning Girl, Woman, Other.
The former president isn’t the only famous name who’s slated to appear at the ceremony. Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, will “share her thoughts on the importance of reading during the pandemic,” the foundation said. Booker Prize-winning authors Kazuo Ishiguro will speak at the event, as will last year’s winners of the award, Evaristo and Margaret Atwood.
The event will also include readings of the six shortlisted books by actors including Thandie Newton, Stuart Campbell, and Paapa Essiedu.
Competing for this year’s prize are Brandon Taylor’s Real Life, Diane Cook’s The New Wilderness, Avni Doshi’s Burnt Sugar, Douglas Stuart’s Shuggie Bain, Tsitsi Dangarembga’s This Mournable Body, and Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King.
The Booker Prize ceremony will be broadcast by BBC Arts online on Nov. 19 at 2 p.m. Eastern time.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
