By IANS
London : Two writers of Indian origin – Indra Sinha and Nikita Lalwani – figure in the 13-writer strong long-list for this year’s prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction worth 50,000 pounds.
Sinha is the author of the book “Animal’s People”, while Lalwani’s book is titled “Gifted”.
The chair of judges, Howard Davies, said Wednesday: “This year’s long-list is very diverse, with four first-time novelists as well as some more familiar names. All the books chosen are well-crafted and will appeal to a wide readership.”
The six-member shortlist will be announced Sep 6 and the winner will be announced Oct 16 at an awards ceremony at Guildhall, London.
Prominent among those long-listed is Ian McEwan’s “On Chesil Beach”, which is considered 3-1 favourite to win the prize.
Rajasthan-born Lalwani, 33, was raised in Cardiff. After studying English at Bristol University, she went on to work for the BBC, directing factual television and documentaries. She lives in London with her husband and child.
Sinha’s “Animal’s People”, published in March this year, is set in an Indian town called Kaufpur, a fictional place of terror and dread based on the city of Bhopal, which saw arguably the worst industrial disaster in a gas leak tragedy in 1984.
The long-list is:
Darkmans by Nicola Barker (Publisher: 4th Estate)
Self Help by Edward Docx (Picador)
The Gift Of Rain by Tan Twan Eng (Myrmidon)
The Gathering by Anne Enright (Jonathan Cape)
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (Hamish Hamilton)
The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies (Sceptre)
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones (John Murray)
Gifted by Nikita Lalwani (Viking)
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan (Jonathan Cape)
What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn (Tindal Street)
Consolation by Michael Redhill (William Heinemann)
Animal’s People by Indra Sinha (Simon & Schuster)
Winnie & Wolf by A.N. Wilson (Hutchinson)
The judges for this year’s prize are: Howard Davies, director of the London School of Economics and Political Science; Wendy Cope, poet; Giles Foden, journalist and author; Ruth Scurr, biographer and critic; and Imogen Stubbs, actor and writer.