LONDON – A first time Indian novelist along with Hilary Mantel, who won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2009 with historical novel “Wolf Hall”, are on the shortlist for the coveted award again for her sequel “Bring up the Bodies”, organisers announced on Tuesday.
The other five nominees are Indian author first-time novelists Jeet Thayil (“Narcopolis”) and Alison Moore (“The Lighthouse”) , and Will Self (“Umbrella”), Deborah Levy (“Swimming Home”), and Malaysia’s Tan Twan Eng (“The Garden of Evening Mists”).
“We loved the shock of language shown in so many different ways and were exhilarated by the vigour and vividly defined values in the six books that we chose,” said Peter Stothard, chair of the judges and editor of the Times Literary Supplement.
The overall winner will be announced at a ceremony at London’s Guildhall on October 16 and receive a cheque for 50,000 pounds plus a spike in sales that usually accompanies a major literary award.
Last year’s winner, “The Sense of An Ending” by Julian Barnes, has sold more than 300,000 print copies in the United Kingdom alone. Of the six shortlisted authors, two have previously been linked to the prize.
Mantel won in 2009 with the first instalment of her Thomas Cromwell trilogy, and was longlisted in 2005 for “Beyond Black”. Eng was longlisted for the prize in 2007 with his debut novel, “The Gift of Rain”.
The four other novelists including Self, who was described by organisers as a “radical of contemporary literature”, appeared on the list for the first time.
The shortlist features three major publishers – Faber & Faber, Fourth Estate and Bloomsbury – and three smaller regional publishers – Myrmidon Books, Salt and And Other Stories.
Levy’s novel Swimming Home is co-published by And Other Stories and Faber & Faber. Jonathan Ruppin, web editor at Foyles bookshops, praised the judges’ selection, and added:
“One can never discount the consistently brilliant Hilary Mantel and Will Self has surpassed himself with Umbrella, but I’m tipping Alison Moore’s moody and exquisite The Lighthouse, to pull off a triumph for the dynamic world of indie publishing.”
The prize launched in 1969 to promote works of fiction written by citizens of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland.
