2 Canadian fiction writers on Man Booker long list

Two Canadians were among 13 novelists nominated for Britain’s prestigious Man Booker Prize for fiction on Wednesday.

Vancouver-born, Montrealbased Madeleine Thien was recognized for Do Not Say We Have Nothing (Knopf Canada) and Montreal-born, Hungary-based David Szalay got the nod for All That Man Is (McClelland & Stewart).

Do Not Say We Have Nothing is set in China before, during and after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Thien’s novel is explored through the lens of two successive generations: those who lived through Mao’s Cultural Revolution in the mid-20th century, and the children of survivors who became student demonstrators.

Szalay’s All That Man Is is set in various European cities and offers a window into the lives of men at different stages in their lives, from their teens through old age.

Celebrated South African novelist J.M. Coetzee and U.S. Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout are also among the contenders.

Coetzee’s The Schooldays of Jesus and Strout’s My Name is Lucy Barton are among the best-known titles on a long list that spurned big-name writers including Ian McEwan and Don DeLillo in favour of less famous authors and first-time novelists.

Coetzee, who lives in Australia, is the early bookies’ favourite and would become the first triple Booker winner if he takes the prize. He won in 1983 with Life and Times of Michael K and in 1999 with Disgrace.

Strout won the fiction Pulitzer in 2009 for Olive Kitteridge, which was turned into a HBO miniseries starring Frances McDormand.

There’s also a rare nomination for a crime thriller, Graeme Macrae Burnet’s His Bloody Project.

Six finalists will be announced Sept. 13 and the winner of the prize worth about $87,000 will be named on Oct. 25.