Books News

Man Booker Prize shortlist ups ante for newbies

By J.E. Reich September 15, 2012

Earlier this week, the shortlist for the Man Booker Prize was announced and released with less surprising results than its longlist predecessor.

While the Man Booker longlist shocked readers by dismissing books by reputable, even iconic, authors (namely Martin Amis and Zadie Smith), the second round has been far more predictable, retaining big names like Will Self (Umbrella) and Hilary Mantel (Bring Up The Bodies, the sequel to Wolf Hall, for which she won the Man Booker Prize in 2009). Other semi-finalists include Deborah Levy (Swimming Home), Tan Twang Eng (The Garden of Evening Mists), Alison Moore (The Lighthouse), and Jeet Thayil (Narcopolis).

Although Mantel and Self might be the most renowned amongst the shortlisters, their collective competition is not to be dismissed.  Levy has been publishing novels for more than 25 years, Eng appeared on the longlist in 2007, Thayil has released four books of poetry before his first foray into fiction, and while Moore has only one book to her name, it, well, got shortlisted for the Man Booker. Not too shabby.

The finalist for the prize will be announced on October 16th. Information about the nominees and their books is available here.

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