Booker Prize 2001
Click here for coverage of the 2001 prize.

Atwood wins Booker prize
8 November: The Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood last night emerged victorious from a closely fought battle for this year's Booker prize.

Fourth time lucky for Atwood in Booker prize
8 November: Margaret Atwood's bad luck as a veteran "handmaid" of the Booker prize changed triumphantly last night when she was declared this year's winner.

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood Atwood's 10th novel is a dense, multi-layered meditation on fiction and family, in which Laura's account of her extraordinary life is interspersed with chapters from her dead sister's 40s novel. Guardian review Observer review Interview Author page Official website Read an excerpt Buy The Blind Assassin at BOL

Pit your wits against our Booker quiz

Discuss the winning novel and the shortlist on our talkboards

How you voted:
Margaret Atwood: 31%
Kazuo Ishiguro: 23%
Brian O'Doherty: 13%
Matthew Kneale: 11%
Trezza Azzopardi: 10%
Michael Collins: 8%

When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro Ishiguro's fifth follows a man who claims to be a great 30s dectective sifting through the clues of his own childhood in corrupt and dangerous Old Shanghai. Guardian review Observer review Interview Read the first chapter Buy When We Were Orphans at BOL

The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi Another author focuses on the 1940s. This is a much-anticipated and accomplished debut exploring a fresh and intriguing subject, the Maltese population in Cardiff. It's also an unflinching and skilfully woven memoir of poverty and family horror, with a sharp child's-eye view. Read the first chapter Guardian review Interview: My media Buy The Hiding Place at BOL

English Passengers by Matthew Kneale With a total of 21 narrators, this is a witty and exuberant tale of the search for Eden. Literally: an English churchman is disgusted by the claims of 'atheist geologists' that the Earth is much older than the Bible suggests, and sets out to prove the good book true. Guardian review Observer review Interview Buy English Passengers at BOL

The Keepers of Truth by Michael Collins A washed-up reporter in a dying mid-west industrial town dreams of a big story. The disappearance of a town elder and determination of the police to finger his son for murder provides just that. Guardian review Irish Independent interview Buy The Keepers of Truth at BOL

The Deposition of Father McGreevy by Brian O Doherty Editor Willliam Maginn hears rumours of a strange story behind the demise of the remote Irish village where he was born. Becoming obsessed by the tale, he returns to the mountains of Kerry to discover inexplicable tragedy: all the women of the village mysteriously die. The Father McGreevy of the title is the parish priest, battling against this godless situation. Brian who?: Guardian interview Buy The Deposition of Father McGreevy at BOL S F Gate review

Blonde and proud
12 November: Can a slave to her hair colour really judge a literary prize and present Panorama? Mariella Frostrup reflects on her year of sexism and success.

The bookies' Booker...
5 November: In the most open field for years, it is anyone's guess who will win Britain's most glittering prize on Tuesday night. Here, Observer critics make their choices

Booker 2000: a bluffer's guide
8 October: From the literary verdict to the bookies' odds, get acquainted with the shortlist titles

Obscure authors make Booker history
6 October: Atwood and Ishiguro have emerged as favourites for £21,000 prize as an unprecedented shortlist is unveiled.

Spoofs and shortlists
Robert McCrum: The day before the millennial Booker Prize shortlist was announced, I received a puzzling email...