Man Booker Prize

The 2013 Man Booker Prize longlist, called the ‘most diverse’ in the prize’s history, was announced today.

Here is the list:

• Five Star Billionaire Tash Aw (Fourth Estate)
• We Need New Names NoViolet Bulawayo (Chatto & Windus)
• The Luminaries Eleanor Catton (Granta)
• Harvest Jim Crace (Picador)
• The Marrying of Chani Kaufman Eve Harris (Sandstone Press)
• The Kills Richard House (Picador)
• The Lowland Jhumpa Lahiri (Bloomsbury)
• Unexploded Alison MacLeod ( Hamish Hamilton)
• TransAtlantic Colum McCann (Bloomsbury)
• Almost English Charlotte Mendelson (Mantle)
• A Tale for the Time Being Ruth Ozeki (Canongate)
• The Spinning Heart Donal Ryan (Doubleday Ireland)
• The Testament of Mary Colm Tóibín (Viking)

There are some familiar names here, a few we might have expected, and a few surprises. Perhaps most surprising of all, however, is who wasn’t on list.

(photo credit: http://www.themanbookerprize.com)