2009 Man Booker Prize Longlist Announced

The Man Booker Prize Longlist was announced yesterday. The ‘Man Booker dozen’ includes two previous winners (AS Byatt, JM Coetzee), some other heavy hitters (Hilary Mantel, Colm Toibin, William Trevor, Sarah Waters), and three debut novelists (Samantha Harvey, James Lever, Ed O'Loughlin). Here’s the list:

• The Children's Book, AS Byatt (Chatto and Windus)
• Summertime, JM Coetzee (Harvill Secker)
• The Quickening Maze, Adam Foulds (Jonathan Cape)
• How to Paint a Dead Man, Sarah Hall (Faber)
• The Wilderness, Samantha Harvey (Jonathan Cape)
• Me Cheeta, James Lever (Fourth Estate)
• Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel (Fourth Estate)
• The Glass Room, Simon Mawer (Little, Brown)
• Not Untrue & Not Unkind, Ed O'Loughlin (Penguin - Ireland)
• Heliopolis, James Scudamore (Harvill Secker)
• Brooklyn, Colm Toibin (Viking)
• Love and Summer, William Trevor (Viking)
• The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters (Virago)

James Naughtie, the chair of judges, commented:

We believe it to be one of the strongest lists in recent memory, with two former winners, four past-shortlisted writers, three first-time novelists and a span of styles and themes that make this an outstandingly rich fictional mix.

This longlist was chosen from a total of 132 books, 121 of which were submitted by publishers and 11 of which were called in by the judges. The 6-book shortlist will be announced on September 8th, and the winner will be announced on October 6th.