The Man Booker Prize 2012 Longlist

I am very late on this, yet I feel I should still share it with you. On July 25, 2012, the Man Booker Prize organisers released the long list of competing books for 2012. This list consist of 12 books chosen by a panel of judges chaired by Sir Peter Stothard. The longlisted books were selected from a total of 145 titles. The following are the books on the list:
  1. The Yips by Nicola Barker (Fourth Estate)
  2. The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman (Sceptre)
  3. Philida by Andre Brink (Harvill Secker)
  4. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (Myrmidon Books)
  5. Skios by Michael Frayn (Faber & Faber)
  6. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (Doubleday)
  7. Swimming Home by Deborah Levy (And Other Stories)
  8. Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (Fourth Estate)
  9. The Lighthouse by Alison Moore (Salt)
  10. Umbrella by Will Self (Bloomsbury)
  11. Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil (Faber & Faber)
  12. Communion Town by Sam Thompson (Fourth Estate)
According to the Chair of Judges, Peter Stothard:
Goodness, madness and bewildering urban change are among the themes of this year's longlist. In an extraordinary year for fiction the 'Man Booker Dozen' proves the grip that the novel has on our world. We did not set out to reject the old guard but, after a year of sustained critical argument by a demanding panel of judges, the new has come powering through.
Trivias:
According to Man Booker, the longlist includes four debut novelists (Rachel Joyce, Alison Moore, Jeet Thayil and Sam Thompson), three small independent publishers and one previous winner (Hilary Mantel with Wolf Hall). Of the dozen, seven are men and five women; nine are British, one Indian, One South African (Andre Brink) and one Malaysian. The eldest on the list is Michael Frayn at 78 and the youngest is Ned Beauman at 27. According to the BBC, big-name writers who failed to make the longlist included Martin Amis, John Banville, Pat Barker, Ian McEwan, Zadie Smith and Rose Tremain.

The shortlist of six authors will be announced at a press conference at the Man Group headquarters on Tuesday 11 September 2012. The winner of the 2012 prize will be announced at a dinner at London's Guildhall on Tuesday 16 October. Each of the six shortlisted writers is awarded 2,500 pounds and the winner receives a further 50,000 pounds.

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