The Booker Prize Podcast

The Booker at the Oscars: Schindler's Ark vs Schindler's List

The Booker Prize Podcast

Show Notes

It's Oscars season so we're off to the movies. Welcome to the first in a new mini-series where we explore Booker Prize novels whose silver screen adaptations went on to experience Oscar glory. We're starting with Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize 1982 winner, which also happens to be the first Booker-winning novel to become a film that won a Best Picture Oscar. Listen in as we dive into the book and its film counterpart.

In this episode Jo and James:

Share a brief biography of Thomas Keneally

Revisit the origin story of Schindler's Ark

Consider whether “non-fiction novels” are really novels

Summarise the plot of the book, and discuss their thoughts on it

Explore the character of Oskar Schindler

Delve into Steven Spielberg's adaptation, Schindler's List, and the differences between book and film

Reading list:

Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard

Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner

Erasure by Percival Everett

The Trees by Percival Everett

The Place at Whitton by Thomas Keneally

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith by Thomas Keneally

Gossip from the Forest by Thomas Keneally

Confederates by Thomas Keneally

An Ice-Cream War by William Boyd

The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally

A full transcript of the episode is available at our website. Take a look at all of the TV and film adaptations of Booker Prize novels here. And to watch the full interview with Thomas Keneally, head to our YouTube channel here. Follow The Booker Prize Podcast so you never miss an episode. Visit http://thebookerprizes.com/podcast to find out more about us, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok @thebookerprizes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More from The Booker Prize Podcast

May 24, 2024

Earlier this week, author Jenny Erpenbeck and translator Michael Hofmann were announced as the winners of the International Booker Prize 2024, for the novel, Kairos. Jenny and Michael join Jo and James to talk about whether their win has truly sunk in yet and what might be next, and administrator of the International Booker Prize, Fiammetta Rocco also joins to give some insight into how the prize works. It's our last episode of this season of The Booker Prize Podcast so make sure you don't miss this one – but all our previous episodes will continue to be available so you can listen whenever you want.

May 16, 2024

With under a week until the International Booker Prize 2024 ceremony, we're back with the second part of our deep dive into this year's six shortlist books. Listen in to hear what Jo and James think of the remaining three books on the list, common themes that run across the shortlisted reads and which book they want to see win the award.

May 2, 2024

We're three weeks away from the International Booker Prize 2024 award ceremony, so we thought it was high time to take a deep dive into this year's six shortlist books. In the first of two parts, we're exploring three of the books on this week's podcast episode. Listen in to hear what Jo and James make of them, common themes that run across the shortlisted reads and how the International Booker can expand one's world through literature.

Apr 11, 2024

Esi Edugyan’s thrilling novel follows the astonishing adventures of its titular character, Washington Black, whose escape from the brutal cane plantations of Barbados was only the beginning. Shortlisted for the 2018 Booker Prize and set to be released as a glitzy television adaptation starring Sterling K Brown and co-produced by Edugyan later this year, what better excuse to dive into the novel?

Mar 28, 2024

In 1984, many assumed that J.G. Ballard's Empire of the Sun had the Booker Prize in the bag. But actually, it was Anita Brookner's Hotel du Lac that clinched the prize in the end. This week, we're exploring the bookies' favourite vs the Booker winner to ask which book should have won: Brookner's short, quiet novel set in a genteel Swiss hotel or Ballard's long and action-packed autobiographical epic set in wartime Shanghai.

See all episodes →