# Jarvis Cocker on judging the Booker prize: ‘It’s just like being in a band’

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/jarvis-cocker-on-judging-the-booker-prize-its-just-like-being-in-a-band/
- Published: 2026-11-10T09:00:34+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-10T09:36:34+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/nov/10/jarvis-cocker-on-judging-the-booker-prize-its-just-like-being-in-a-band
- Topics: Culture, Entertainment, Music

## Key points

- Cocker compares Booker judging to playing in a band.
- He read 163 novels while touring.
- The panel chose M John Harrison’s challenging novel.

## Summary

Jarvis Cocker says judging the Booker prize felt like being in a band: a group of very different people working towards a shared goal. The panel avoided settling for the least controversial choice, and after a lengthy discussion chose M John Harrison’s *The End of Everything*, a challenging novel Cocker considers the culmination of the author’s craft.

Cocker read all 163 eligible novels while touring, mostly on an iPad during flights, and reread the winning book three times. He joined chair Mary Beard and fellow judges Patricia Lockwood, Raymond Antrobus and Rebecca Liu, sometimes attending meetings across difficult time zones. Though he initially felt underqualified and worried the process might put him off reading, he enjoyed hearing the other judges’ perspectives and discovered contemporary writers he plans to follow.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.