Booker prize contest pits veterans against novices

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

Oct 14: Irish writer Sebastian Barry was the bookies’ favorite on Tuesday in a wide-open field of finalists for the prestigious Man Booker prize for fiction.

Barry’s The Secret Scripture, a story of misery, memories and secrets in 1930s Ireland, was 5/2 front-runner among six contenders for the award, according to bookmakers William Hill. Rival bookies Ladbrokes had Barry as 2/1 front-runner.

Both firms had Indian writer Amitav Ghosh as second-favorite for Sea of Poppies. The winner will be announced on Tuesday.

The £50,000 prize is among the world’s highest-profile literary awards, open to novels in English by writers from Britain, Ireland or the Commonwealth of former British colonies. Winning brings a big boost in profile, and usually in sales.

Playwright and novelist Barry was previously nominated in 2005 for A Long Long Way. Victory would make him the third Irish winner in four years. The 2005 prize went to John Banville for the The Sea, and last year’s winner was Ireland’s Anne Enright for The Gathering. The 2006 winner was India’s Kiran Desai for The Inheritance of Loss. This year’s Booker shortlist lacks the star power and household names of some previous contests.

Few of the six shortlisted authors are household names, and two are first-time authors: Indian novelist Aravind Adiga, nominated for The White Tiger - the story of a man’s dreams of escaping poor village life for success in the big city - and Australia’s Steve Toltz, shortlisted for sprawling father-son saga A Fraction of the Whole.

Two English authors, Linda Grant for The Clothes on Their Backs and Philip Hensher for The Northern Clemency are also in the running. Among those snubbed by judging panel was Salman Rushdie, who was on the prize’s 13-book long-list for the Enchantress of Florence.