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London, Aug. 8 (ANI): Two writers of Indian origin are among hopefuls for this year's 50,000-pound Man Booker Prize.
Nikita Lalwani and Indra Sinha made it to the 13-title long list on the back of their books 'Gifted' and 'Animal's People', respectively.
Meanwhile, bookies have been speculating that British novelist Ian McEwan who wrote 'On Chesil Beach' is the most favourite to win the prize.
Literary agents say that another writer who is most likely to emerge as a recognised name is AN Wilson, the novelist and newspaper columnist who has made his first appearance in the Booker stakes.
Wilson's 'Winnie And Wolf', about the close friendship between Hitler and Winifred Wagner, has earned him a place on the list.
Heavyweight writers who failed to make the cut include Doris Lessing and past winners Thomas Kenneally, J M Coetzee and Graham Swift.
"This is the Man Booker at its best - a longlist that champions new and emerging writers without fear of offending the old guard," the Telegraph quoted Janine Cook, Waterstone's fiction buyer, as saying.
"No surprise to see Ian McEwan on there, but only he and AN Wilson can be called household names. Previous Booker nominees and winners have been shunned this year - no Faulks, Swift, Crace, even multiple-Booker winner JM Coetzee has fallen at the first hurdle. The end result is impossible to call," Cook added. A prominent literary agent admits that it has been a thin year for fiction, but hopes that people may get to see the best book win.
"I have never even heard of four of the writers. But it has been a thin year for fiction and it seems as though the judges have had to look far and wide to find the really interesting books. Perhaps it's a good thing, and this year we might really see the best book win," said the agent.
Six strong contenders for the prize will be shortlisted in September, and the winner will be announced in October.
The judges include Sir Howard Davies, director of the London School of Economics, the actress Imogen Stubbs and the poet Wendy Cope.
The 13-title long list is as follows:
Nicola Barker, Darkmans (Fourth Estate)
Edward Docx, Self Help (Picador)
Tan Twan Eng, The Gift Of Rain (Myrmidon)
Anne Enright, The Gathering (Jonathan Cape)
Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Hamish Hamilton)
Peter Ho Davies, The Welsh Girl (Sceptre)
Lloyd Jones, Mister Pip (John Murray)
Nikita Lalwani, Gifted (Viking)
Ian McEwan, On Chesil Beach (Jonathan Cape)
Catherine O'Flynn, What Was Lost (Tindal Street Press)
Michael Redhill, Consolation (William Heinemann)
Indra Sinha, Animal's People (Simon and Schuster)
AN Wilson, Winnie and Wolf (Hutchinson) (ANI)