The Booker Prize—one of the most coveted awards in literary fiction—has released its longlist of books selected from 145 titles by a panel of judges led by the editor of the Times Literary Supplement, Sir Peter Stothard.
 
“Goodness, madness and bewildering urban change are among the themes of this year’s longlist,” Stothard was quoted as saying by the website of the Man Booker Prize.
 
“In an extraordinary year for fiction the ‘Man Booker Dozen’ proves the grip that the novel has on our world. We did not set out to reject the old guard but, after a year of sustained critical argument by a demanding panel of judges, the new has come powering through,” Stothard added.
 
Four debut novels, three small independent publishers and one previous winner made it to the list, which will be trimmed further to six in September.
 
On the longlist of 12 are:
 

• Nicola Barker, The Yips (Fourth Estate)
• Ned Beauman, The Teleportation Accident (Sceptre)
• André Brink, Philida (Harvill Secker)
• Tan Twan Eng, The Garden of Evening Mists (Myrmidon Books)
• Michael Frayn, Skios (Faber & Faber)
• Rachel Joyce, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Doubleday)
• Deborah Levy, Swimming Home (And Other Stories)
• Hilary Mantel, Bring up the Bodies (Fourth Estate)
• Alison Moore, The Lighthouse (Salt)
• Will Self, Umbrella (Bloomsbury)
• Jeet Thayil, Narcopolis (Faber & Faber)
• Sam Thompson, Communion Town (Fourth Estate)

 
“Of the 12 writers, seven are men and five women; nine are British, one Indian, one South African and one Malaysian. The eldest on the list is Michael Frayn at 78 and the youngest is Ned Beauman at 27,” the Man Booker Prize website noted. — ELR, GMA News