Booker Prize’s Link to Slavery | 10 May 2024

Why in News?

The Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in the literary world, has recently come under criticism for the historical links to slavery of its original sponsor, Booker Group.

• It's claimed that during the early 1800s, George and Josias Booker, the founders of the company, reportedly enslaved close to 200 individuals.

What are the Key Facts About the Booker Prize?

• The prize was established in 1969 by Tom Maschler and Graham C. Greene.
• The Booker Prize is awarded annually to the author of the best eligible work of long-form fiction, written originally in English by an author of any nationality, and published in the UK and/or Ireland.
  • The International Booker Prize is a separate award for translated works into English.
• The winner of the Booker Prize receives a cash award of 50,000 Pounds. Additionally, each of the shortlisted authors is awarded 2,500 Pounds.
  • Irish author Paul Lynch has won the 2023 Booker Prize for his novel ‘Prophet Song'.

How Booker is Linked to Slavery and Indentured Labour?

• Britain gained control of Guyana through the Treaty of Paris in 1815.
  • Guyana is a country in South America bordered by Suriname to the east, Brazil to the south, and Venezuela to the west.
  • Its economy was driven by the sugar and cotton industries, with African slaves providing labour in plantations.
  • The use of African slaves in British Guyana reflects the history of slavery in the region during the 19^th century.
• The Booker Brothers Josias & George were involved in the exploitative slave-based economy of British Guyana. In a cotton plantation, they enslaved nearly 200 people.
• After slavery was abolished in Guyana in 1834 and African slaves were emancipated, the Booker brothers received compensation for 52 emancipated slaves, totalling 2,884 Pounds (equivalent to 378,000 Pounds in 2020).
  • Bookers convinced the British government to finance voyages to collect replacement sugar workers from India.
  • This led to the exploitation of Indian workers who faced debt and unemployment due to the East India Company's policies and were sent to Guyana by the East India Company.
• The indentured labour system lasted till about the 1920s, leading to a significant migration of labourers from India to Guyana.
  • People of Indian origin are now the single largest ethnic group in Guyana due to the scale of migration.