The Man Booker Prize 2008 shortlist was announced on Tuesday. Two first-time novelists, Aravind Adiga and Steve Toltz, survived the cull of the longlist from thirteen novels to just six. Previous winners of the Booker Prize, John Berger and Salman Rushdie, failed to make this year's shortlist and Sebastian Barry is the only novelist shortlisted for this year's prize to have been previously shortlisted. Linda Grant, winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2000 is the only female author to make the shortlist of six. She is joined by Philip Hensher and the widely-acclaimed Indian writer Amitav Ghosh.
The Man Booker Prize 2008 shortlisted novels are:
Aravind Adiga "The white tiger"
Sebastian Barry "The secret scripture "
Amitav Ghosh "Sea of poppies"
Linda Grant "The clothes on their backs"
Philip Hensher "The northern clemency"
Steve Toltz "A fraction of the whole"
Michael Portillo, Chair of the judging panel, commented "The judges commend the six titles to readers with great enthusiasm. These novels are intensely readable, each of them an extraordinary example of imagination and narrative. These fine page-turning stories nonetheless raise highly thought-provoking ideas and issues. These books are in every case both ambitious and approachable."
The judging panel had to read over 112 entries before whittling down the list to the Man Booker Dozen and then again to just six titles. They will meet to decide on the winning novel on Tuesday 14 October, and the author will be award the £50,000 prize money at an awards ceremony later on that evening at Guildhall, London.
For more information see the press release on the Man Booker Prize website.
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