Avni Doshi is a debut novelist who was born in New Jersey and is currently based in Dubai.

Burnt Sugar tells the story of the shifting power dynamics in a mother-daughter relationship when the parent, who previously enjoyed a wild life, is forced to let her child look after her as she gets older. It's both a love story and a story about betrayal, as well as a look at the nature of false memory and how it affects our closest relationships.

• In 1974, eyebrows were raised when Kingsley Amis’s Ending Up appeared on the shortlist. The judging panel included his wife, the novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard. In the end, the prize was split between Nadine Gordimer and Stanley Middleton.

• The prize has been split between joint winners on three occasions. As well as Gordimer and Middleton in 1974, Michael Ondaatje and Barry Unsworth shared the Prize in 1992. Following this, the Booker Prize committee changed the rules so that only one book could win in the future. Nevertheless, Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo were announced joint winners in 2019.

• In 1977, Chair of Judges Philip Larkin threatened to jump out of the window if Paul Scott’s Staying On did not win. (Luckily it did.)

Image source, Joyce McCown / Unsplash

It seems the only thing that Social Media users can agree on is that we have a strong shortlist this year:

Tsitsi's novel - like many that that make the Booker shortlists - shows us how novelists can help us think differently about moments of political upheaval.

A new project is asking what novels can teach us about whether and why men and women respond differently to crises. Using innovative new computational techniques, researchers have studied the language used by men and women in ten political novels, and noticed some intriguing differences:

You can read the full article here, and see the ten novels that the BBC The Novels That Shaped Our World team picked in their Politics, Power and Protest category.

In September, Tsitsi spoke to the BBC World Service about how she planned the trilogy that includes her Booker-nominated novel.

You can hear the whole interview here:

Tsitsi Dangarembga is a filmmaker and playwright. In July she was arrested in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, during a peaceful protest against government corruption. In September she was charged with intention to incite public violence and released on bail. After several postponed hearings, she is due to attend court again in the coming days.

This Mournable Body is the third book in a trilogy following Nervous Conditions (1988) - winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize - and The Book of Not (2006). Dangarembga tells the story of one young girl living in a run-down hostel in Harare. She has left her dead-end job and is struggling to forge a new life for herself. At every turn she is thwarted, which drives her to breaking point.

Shortlisted author Brandon Taylor is still coming to terms with his new-found fame:

Last year, the BBC asked a group of authors and critics to create their own list of a hundred novels that had shaped them. The list contained a fair share of books that are often labelled as classics, but also plenty of surprises.

Do you agree with the panel's choices?

If you'd like to hear more on how we might rethink the novels we think of as classics, you might enjoy the following event which took place as part of the Being Human festival earlier this week:

The University of Wolverhampton are asking the public for their opinions on what makes a novel literary - you can take part in a short survey, external here. You'll also get personalised feedback on how to get the most from the books you read.

In our second discussion of the evening, Elle Osili-Wood talks to her panel of authors and critics about the role that prize ceremonies play in shaping our literary landscape:

Listen to Booker Prize 2020: The role of literary prizes

Nice to see people at home are getting ready to celebrate tonight's Booker Prize announcement properly...

In 2018, Nick Drnaso made Booker history when his book Sabrina became the first graphic novel to be long-listed for the prize. He spoke to Front Row about the moment he realised his work had been chosen:

• The Booker Prize has been awarded annually since 1969. The first ever winner was P.H. Newby with his novel Something to Answer For.

• Four authors have won the prize more than once: J.M. Coetzee, 1983 and 1999; Peter Carey in 1988 and 2001; Hilary Mantel, 2009 and 2012; and Margaret Atwood, 2000 and 2019.

• The shortest winning novel in the history of the prize was Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald, at 132 pages. The longest winning novel, in 2013, was The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, clocking in at an impressive 832 pages.

Image source, Claudia Woolf / Unsplash

It might seem like a dream job - but spare a thought for the Booker judges who had to read 162 books as part of their duties:

Last month, shortlisted author Diane Cook spoke to Front Row's Booker Prize Book Club on BBC Radio 4.

• You can listen to the whole interview.

Image source, BBC / Katherine Rondina

Diane Cook lives in Brooklyn and is an accomplished short-story writer, as well as a former producer for the radio show This American Life.

The New Wilderness is her first novel. It tells the story of Bea and her five-year-old daughter, Agnes, who is wasting away in the smog and pollution of the metropolis they call home. To escape they join a group of nomadic hunter gatherers. They slowly learn how to survive but the process creates an unexpected, troubling shift in their relationship.

Cook is currently writing a screenplay based on the novel and Warner Bros Television has also acquired the rights to develop it as a television series.

We don't know whether the official judges have reached a decision yet, but on social media the jury is definitely still out:

In the first of three short discussions hosted specially for this year's event, Front Row presenter Elle Osili-Wood talks to a panel of novelists and critics about this year's Booker shortlist and the surprising number of debut authors.

About the Panel

Sara Collins is a novelist. She won the 2019 Costa First Novel Award for her first novel, The Confessions of Frannie Langton; a gothic romance about the twisted love affair between a Jamaican maid and her French mistress in 19th century London.

John Self is a literary critic, who publishes regularly papers including in The Times and The Guardian.

Ellah Wakatama is Editor At Large at Canongate (publishers) and Chair of the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing. She also judged the Booker prize in 2015.

Listen to Booker Prize 2020: A big year for debuts:

Here's your chance to get up to speed with the history of this iconic - and sometimes controversial - competition.

• Read Facts and fiction: Eight things you need to know about The Booker Prize

To get you in the mood for tonight's ceremony, why not relive the moment last year when Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo shared the Booker Prize.

• You can watch the clip - and hear their acceptance speeches.