Indian-origin author features in Longlist for Man Booker Prize 2014

The longlist for the Man Booker Prize 2014 has been released. This is the first Man Booker prize to admit novels from across the globe as long as they are written in English. Following much discussion, the six judges chaired by philosopher Anthony Grayling chose 13 books by four Americans, six Britons, two Irish and one Australian writers.

One former Man Booker winner Howard Jacobson, is on the longlist along with two previously shortlisted authors, Ali Smith and David Mitchell. Also on the list are David Nicholls, whose previous novel, One Day, was filmed with Anne Hathaway, and the Anglo-Indian writer Neel Mukherjee.

Following are the selected titles To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, Joshua Ferris (Viking); The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan (Chatto & Windus); We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler (Serpent’s Tail); The Blazing World, Siri Hustvedt (Sceptre); J, Howard Jacobson (Jonathan Cape); The Wake, Paul Kingsnorth (Unbound); The Bone Clocks, David Mitchell (Sceptre); The Lives of Others, Neel Mukherjee (Chatto & Windus); Us, David Nicholls (Hodder & Stoughton); The Dog, Joseph O’Neill (Fourth Estate); Orfeo, Richard Powers (Atlantic Books); How to be Both, Ali Smith (Hamish Hamilton); History of the Rain, Niall Williams (Bloomsbury).

Following extensive consultation the Man Booker trustees decided this year to change the rules which had previously allowed only British and Commonwealth authors to be considered for the prize. New Zealand author Eleanor Catton, winner of the 2013 prize, commented: “I think it’s a really great thing that finally we’ve got a prize that is an English-language prize that doesn’t make a distinction for writers who are writing from a particular country.”

The Man Booker, which is awarded to the best novel of the year in the opinion of the judges, is worth £50,000 to the winner.