Auster tops Man Booker Prize shortlist
Saunders favorite to win
LONDON, Sept 13, (Agencies): US author Paul Auster tops the shortlist for Britain’s prestigious Man Booker Prize published Wednesday, one of six books that organisers said “collectively push against the borders of convention”.
The 70-year-old, nominated for “4321”, is up against two other Americans — short story writer George Saunders, for his first full-length novel “Lincoln in the Bardo”, and debut writer Emily Fridlund with “History of Wolves”.
British author Ali Smith makes the shortlist for the fourth time with “Autumn”, while British-Pakistani writer Mohsin Hamid makes his second appearance with “Exit West”.
Briton Fiona Mozley, 29, is the youngest nominee with her first book, “Elmet”. The Man Booker is the world’s most prestigious Englishlanguage literary award and the winner is guaranteed a huge increase in global sales that dwarfs the £50,000 (55,400 euros, $66,400) prize.
“With six unique and intrepid books that collectively push against the borders of convention, this year’s shortlist both acknowledges established authors and introduces new voices to the literary stage,” said Baroness Lola Young, who chairs the judging panel.
“Playful, sincere, unsettling, fierce: here is a group of novels grown from tradition but also radical and contemporary.
The winner will be announced on Oct 17 in London. Previous winners of the prize, launched in 1969, include Ian McEwan, Iris Murdoch and Salman Rushdie.
Saunders is favorite to win the prestigious Man Booker Prize for fiction with his novel of the afterlife, “Lincoln in the Bardo.”
British bookmakers Ladbrokes and William Hill made Saunders the front-runner among six finalists announced Wednesday for the 50,000-pound ($66,000) prize. The novel is set in a Washington graveyard in 1862, where President Abraham Lincoln visits the body of his 11-year-old son.
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NEW YORK: Angie Thomas’ debut novel, “The Hate U Give,” a story of police violence that has become one of the year’s top-selling works for young people, was among the nominees announced Tuesday for the National Book Awards.
The National Book Foundation released a long list of 10 books, several with socially conscious story lines, in the young people’s literature category. Over the next three days, the foundation will announce long lists for poetry, nonfiction and fiction. Short lists of five come out Oct 4 and winners will be revealed during a Nov 15 ceremony in New York City.