Booker, Two Irish Authors On Longlist
Two Irish authors have made it onto this year’s Booker’s longlist
The list of 13 books includes ‘The Secret Scripture‘ by Sebastian Barry and Joseph O’Neill’s ‘Netherland.’
This is the second time Barry has been shortlisted. He was shortlisted in 2005 for his book ‘A Long Long Way.’
Barry was shortlisted for the 2005 prize for his book A Long Long Way.
This year Barry and O’Neill face British author Salman Rushdie who lifted the coverted prize in 1981 for Midnight’s Children
The other authors on the list are: Aravind Adiga for The White Tiger , Gaynor Arnold for Girl in a Blue Dress , John Berger for From A to X , Michelle de Kretser for The Lost Dog , Amitav Ghosh for Sea of Poppies , Linda Grant for The Clothes on Their Backs , Mohammed Hanif for A Case of Exploding Mangoes , Philip Hensher for The Northern Clemency , Tom Rob Smith for Child 44 , Steve Toltz for A Fraction of the Whole .
The organizers now face the task of whittling the 13 books down to a short list of six. A prize of £50,000 is up for grabs.
The 13 books, announced today, were chosen from 112 entries, 103 were submitted for the prize and nine were called in by the judges.
This years panel is chaired by former British MP Michael Portillo.
Mr Portillio said: “The judges are pleased with the geographical balance of the longlist with writers from Pakistan, India, Australia, Ireland and UK.
“We also are happy with the interesting mix of books, five first novels and two novels by former winners.
The full judging panel for this year’s prize consists of: Michael Portillo, former MP and Cabinet Minister; Alex Clark, editor of Granta; Louise Doughty, novelist; James Heneage, founder of Ottakar’s bookshops and Hardeep Singh Kohli, TV and radio broadcaster
The winner of the prize will be announced in September.
