A first-time Indian novelist and two other Indian writers Salman Rushdie and Amitav Ghosh will compete for this year's #50, 000 prestigious Booker prize.
The White Tiger, a debut novel by Aravind Adiga, a software engineer from Karnataka has recieved considerable attention in western capitals for its clear-eyed view of India's economic coming of age.
As almost always the case with Rushdie, his Enchantress of Florence was immediately described as the favorite to win. The 40-year- old Booker Prize, which is technically called Man-Booker because it is sponsored by the alternative investment management-business the Man group, announced its B-strong long-list on Wednesday. The long-list was culled from 112 books of which nine interestingly were called in to read by the judges by special demand. The final shortlist will be announced in September just a month before the prize winner is feted at a gala dinner here.
This year's long-list is seen to have a marked sub-continental flavour, as it also features another first-time novelist, this time from Pakistan. It is Mohammad Hanif for his political satire A case of Exploding Mangoes, about the mysterious air crash that killed General Zia-ul-Huq. Former Conservative Cabinet Minister Michael Partillo, who chaired the Booker's panel of judges, said he was' pleased with the geographical balance of the longlist with writers from Pakistan, India, Australia, Ireland and UK.
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