Irish author Colm Toibín has been included in the long list for the Booker Prize.
Colm Toibin
The judging panel unveiled the 22 books in contention for the literary world's most prestigious award today.
Toibín is included for his novel, The Master. Also included in the list is Nicola Barker for Clear: A Transparent Novel. Barker won the Irish Impac literary award in 2000.
Bookmakers installed The Line of Beautyby Alan Hollinghurst and Cloud Atlasby David Mitchell as favourites to win the Booker.
Judges chose the long-list from a total of 132 entries.It will be whittled down to a short-list of six, to be announced on September 21st.
The winner will be unveiled on October 19th at a ceremony in the Royal Horticultural Halls in central London.
Chair of the judges, MP Chris Smith, said: "This has been a very rich year for fiction and we have a strong and varied long-list of 22 books.
"I'm particularly pleased that there are a number of first or second novels on the list as well as a number of well-established writers.
"The list is a mixture of seriousness and fun; it ranges across several continents; it goes back and forwards in time; and getting a short-list of six out of this variety will be a nightmare," he said.
Booker Prize Longlist:
Chimamanda Ngozi - Purple Hibiscus
Nadeem Aslam - Maps for Lost Lovers
Nicola Barker - Clear: A Transparent Novel
John Bemrose - The Island Walkers
Ronan Bennett - Havoc, In Its Third Year
Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Neil Cross - Always The Sun
Achmat Dangor - Bitter Fruit
Louise Dean - Becoming Strangers
Lewis Desoto - A Blade of Grass
Sarah Hall - The Electric Michelangelo
James Hamilton-Paterson - Cooking with Fernet Branca
Justin Haythe - The Honeymoon
Shirley Hazzard - The Great Fire
Alan Hollinghurst - The Line of Beauty
Gail Jones - Sixty Lights
David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas
Sam North - The Unnumbered
Nicholas Shakespeare - Snowleg
Matt Thorne - Cherry
Colm Toibín - The Master
Gerard Woodward - I'll Go To Bed at Noon