By IANS
London : Indian writer Indra Sinha’s book “Animal’s People”, which narrates a fictionalised story of a Bhopal gas victim, has been shortlisted with five others for this year’s Man Booker Prize worth 50,000 pounds.
The winner of the prestigious prize will be announced on Oct 16 at an awards ceremony at the Guildhall, London. Last year’s winner was Kiran Desai’s “The Inheritance of Loss”.
Nikita Lalwani, another Indian-origin writer, whose book, “Gifted”, figured in this year’s long list for the prize, did not make it to the short-list announced here Thursday evening.
The other five books and writers short-listed are: “Darkmans” (Nicola Barker), “The Gathering” (Anne Enright), “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” (Mohsin Hamid), “Mister Pip” (Lloyd Jones), and “On Chesil Beach” (Ian McEwan).
Bookmakers William Hill have made Lloyd Jones’ “Mister Pip” the favourite (2/1) to win this year’s prize. Indra Sinha’s book is offered the lowest odds (8/1) to win.
Announcing the short-list, Howard Davies, Chair of Judges, said: “Selecting a shortlist this year from what was widely seen as an exciting long list was a tough challenge. We hope the choices we have made after passionate and careful consideration will attract wide interest.”
The panel said: “Indra Sinha is an engaged campaigning novelist. The book clearly draws from real life events in Bhopal, but is a sustained imaginative creation in its own right, with intriguing parallel use of new media.”
Indra Sinha was born in India on Feb 10, 1950 and spent his childhood in Bombay, Hyderabad and Rajasthan. As a copywriter for Collett Dickenson Pearce he won awards in every major advertising show.
His previous work, “The Cybergypsies”, met with widespread critical acclaim and he is now a full time writer, living in southern France with his wife and children.
McEwan’s latest novel is a tragic love story about a couple’s wedding night, set in the 1960s. It has sparked debate in the literary world because at less than 200 pages, it is considered by many to be a novella – which would make it ineligible for the Booker.
The winner receives 50,000 pounds and can look forward to greatly increased sales and recognition worldwide. Each of the six short-listed authors, including the winner, receives 2,500 pounds and a designer bound edition of their own book.
The judging panel for the 2007 Man Booker Prize for Fiction includes 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.