On Thursday, the judges of the Man Booker Prize announced the names of the six finalists for the 2007 award. The annual prize is given for the best novel of the year by a citizen of the British Commonwealth, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. Each shortlisted writer receives £2,500 (approximately $5,073). The winner, to be announced on October 16, will receive £50,000 (approximately $101,479).
Chosen from a longlist of thirteen, the finalists are Nicola Barker for Darkmans (Fourth Estate); Anne Enright for The Gathering (Jonathan Cape); Mohsin Hamid for The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Hamish Hamilton); Lloyd Jones for Mister Pip (John Murray); Ian McEwan for On Chesil Beach (Jonathan Cape); and Indra Sinha for Animal’s People (Simon & Schuster).
At fewer than two hundred pages, McEwan’s book is considered by many to be a novella, which has ignited controversy over its eligibility for the novel award. Should McEwan take the prize, he will be the third author—along with J. M. Coetzee and Peter Carey—to have won twice, having received the prize in 1998 for Amsterdam (Jonathan Cape).
This year’s judges are Wendy Cope, Howard Davies, Giles Foden, Ruth Scurr, and Imogen Stubbs.
