Two debut novelists, Stephen Kelman and A.D. Miller, are among the six titles in contention for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction. The shortlist is dominated by independent publishers, though not featuring any of the smaller indies who featured on the 13-title long list.
The shortlist was announced by the chair of the judges, author and former director-general of MI5, Dame Stella Rimington, at a press conference held at the Man Group's London headquarters.
Julian Barnes: THE SENSE OF AN ENDING (Cape)
Carol Birch: JAMRACH'S MENAGERIE (Canongate )
Patrick deWitt: THE SISTERS BROTHERS (Granta)
Esi Edugyan: HALF BLOOD BLUES (Serpent's Tail)
Stephen Kelman: PIGEON ENGLISH (Bloomsbury)
A.D. Miller: SNOWDROPS (Atlantic)
Rimington observed: "Inevitably it was hard to whittle down the long list to six titles. We were sorry to lose some great books. But, when push came to shove, we quickly agreed that these six very different titles were the best."
The winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction will be announced on Tuesday, October 18, at a dinner at London's Guildhall and will be broadcast on the BBC. The winner will receive £50,000, and each of the six shortlisted authors, including the winner, will receive £2,500 and a designer-bound edition of his or her book. Last year's winner, The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson, has sold over 250,000 copies in the U.K. alone.
Rimington's fellow judges for the 2011 Prize are writer and journalist Matthew d'Ancona; author Susan Hill; author and politician Chris Mullin; and Head of Books at the Daily Telegraph, Gaby Wood.
In the run-up to the announcement of the winner, there will be a number of Man Booker Prize events with the shortlisted authors. These include a public event at the Apple store in Covent Garden on October 6; an evening at the British Library to acknowledge the important role of libraries for readers and writers on October 11; and a public event with the shortlisted authors in association with Waterstone's, on October 17.
