Authors from India, Britain, Australia and Ireland, including two debut novelists, were among the six shortlisted for the 2008 Booker Prize on Tuesday. One of the literary world's most prestigious awards, the annual Booker Prize goes to the best work of fiction by an author from the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland.
Indian writer Aravind Adiga, at 34 years old the youngest novelist shortlisted, was nominated for his debut novel "The White Tiger." His countryman Amitav Ghosh was nominated for "Sea of Poppies", while Adiga's fellow first-timer, Australian Steve Toltz, was shortlisted for "A Fraction of the Whole".
Irishman Sebastian Barry, who was shortlisted in 2005, made the cut with "The Secret Scripture". Meanwhile British writers Linda Grant and Philip Hensher - once a Booker judge - were nominated for "The Clothes on Their Backs" and "The Northern Clemency" respectively. "The judges commend the six titles to readers with great enthusiasm," said Michael Portillo, chair of the judges. "These novels are intensely readable, each of them an extraordinary example of imagination and narrative," said the former British defence secretary.
"These fine page-turning stories nonetheless raise highly thought-provoking ideas and issues. These books are in every case both ambitious and approachable." Some 13 books were on the longlist announced in July, with Salman Rushdie's latest novel "The Enchantress of Florence" among the bookmakers' favourites. While Booker Prize veteran Rushdie's effort was dropped, two of the four first-time novelists longlisted made the cut.
Rushdie's 1981 novel "Midnight's Children" was named as the greatest Booker Prize winner ever in July, in an award marking 40 years of the prize. A Booker Prize nomination all but guarantees world-wide readership and an upsurge in book sales. The winner receives 50,000 pounds (88,000 dollars, 62,000 euros), while all the shortlisted authors receive 2,500 pounds and a designer bound edition of their novel.
A total of 41 books have won the prize since it was launched in 1969, because the award was shared in 1974 and 1992. Contenders must have been published in the past year and originally written in English. The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony in London's Guildhall on October 14.
SHORTLIST:
-- 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"
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