The Man Booker longlist always sparks debate in the publishing world. This year will be no exception as a combination of established and new authors are included on the list. Julian Barnes and Sebastian Barry, despite both being shortlisted twice, have never won, while Alan Hollinghurst – longlisted for The Stranger’s Child – won only two years ago for The Line of Beauty. The four debut authors are Stephen Kelman, A.D. Miller, Yvvette Edwards and Patrick McGuinness.
The full list is as follows:
Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending (Jonathan Cape – Random House)
Sebastian Barry, On Canaan’s Side (Faber)
Carol Birch, Jamrach’s Menagerie (Canongate Books)
Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers (Granta)
Esi Edugyan, Half Blood Blues (Serpent’s Tail – Profile)
Yvvette Edwards, A Cupboard Full of Coats (Oneworld)
Alan Hollinghurst, The Stranger’s Child (Picador – Pan Macmillan)
Stephen Kelman, Pigeon English (Bloomsbury)
Patrick McGuinness, The Last Hundred Days (Seren Books)
A.D. Miller, Snowdrops (Atlantic)
Alison Pick, Far to Go (Headline Review)
Jane Rogers, The Testament of Jessie Lamb (Sandstone Press)
D.J. Taylor, Derby Day (Chatto & Windus – Random House)
Chair of judges, Dame Stella Rimington, has commented that, “We are delighted by the quality and breadth of our longlist…[which] ranges from the Wild West to multi-ethnic London via post-Cold War Moscow and Bucharest, and includes four first novels.” The shortlist of six authors will be announced on Tuesday 6 September at a press conference at Man Group’s London headquarters. The winner will be announced on Tuesday 18 October.