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

The singer on how being in Pulp prepared him for judging a literary prize, reading 163 books while on tour, and feeling like the odd one out on the panel

Judging the Booker prize is like being in a band. A band will often bring together a very disparate set of people, their only thing in common the fact they’re in the same group. And a good band takes account of the interests and strengths of its members – that’s how you get a unique sound. Being part of this year’s Booker prize judging panel – chaired by Mary Beard, and featuring the writers Patricia Lockwood, Raymond Antrobus and Rebecca Liu – felt much the same.