The Man Booker Prize 2015 Longlist has been announced!

The race is on: the international Prize’s Baker’s Dozen of contenders has been whittled down from its original list of 156 to just 13 titles.

The shortlist will be mid September, with the grand finale winner divulged a month later.

So here are the authors who will tonight be jumping up and down on their sofas with great glee :

     

Bill Clegg – “Did You Ever Have a Family” – USA – début novelist, read, 9/10

Anne Enright – “The Green Road” – Ireland – former winner in 2007 for “The Gathering”, see previous post on the Man Booker winners,

Marlon James – “A Brief History of Seven Killings” – Jamaica – first Jamaican-born author to be nominated for the Prize,

Laila Lalami – “The Moor’s Account” – USA – first Moroccan-born nominee (this book pipped to the Pulitzer Prize by Doerr’s “All the Light We Cannot See”),

Tom McCarthy – “Satin Island” – UK – previously shortlisted in 2010 for “C”,

Chigozie Obiama – “The Fishermen” – Nigeria – début novelist,

Andrew O’Hagan – “The Illuminations” – UK, Scottish – previously shortlisted for “Our Fathers” in 1999,

Marilynne Robinson – “Lila” – USA – shortlisted twice for the International Prize, various accolades including the Pulitzer in 2005 for “Gilead”, after “Housekeeping” had been shortlisted a few years earlier; “Home” was awarded the Orange Prize in 2009. “Lila” already winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award earlier this year,

Anuradha Roy – “Sleeping on Jupiter” – India – her first novel, “An Atlas of Impossible Longing” from 2008 was named by World Literature Today as one of the 60 Essential English Language Works of Modern Indian Literature,

Sunjeev Sahota – “The Year of the Runaways” – UK – included in the Granta list of 20 best young writers in 2013. NB titbit: did not read a novel until he was 18: “Midnight’s Children” apparently swiftly followed by “The God of Small Things”, “A Suitable Boy” and “The Remains of the Day”… read, 8/10

Anna Smaill – “The Chimes” – New Zealand – début novelist,

Anne Tyler – “A Spool of Blue Thread” – USA – shortlisted for the Baileys’ Prize 2015, winner of the Pulitzer in 1989 for “Breathing Lessons”, etc, etc, read, 9/10

Hanya Yanagihara – “A Little Life” – USA, of Native Hawaiian descent – her first novel “The People in the Trees” was highly praised as one of the best novels in 2013, read, 10/10.

So there we have it – the tension rises.

Aiming to try and read “The Green Road”, “The Moor’s Account” and “Lila” by the shortlist date – then crossing fingers that am at least part way towards making inroads into the last 6 standing in the final run up. Any guestimates as to who may make it to the final list?

Image taken from here, here, here and here.