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SA's Gordimer on Booker list
15/08/2006 10:17 - (SA)
London - Bookmakers have dubbed David Mitchell's Black Swan Green as the favourite among 19 novels to be longlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize on Monday.
Mitchell, shortlisted for the literature award in 2004, was joined on the list by three former winners, Peter Carey, second-favourite according to betting house William Hill, South Africa's Nadine Gordimer and Barry Unsworth.
William Hill rates Mitchell's odds as 5/1, followed by Carey's Theft: A Love Story at 6/1. Sarah Waters's The Night Watch has a 7/1 chance of winning, with Unsworth's The Ruby In Her Navel rated at 8/1. Howard Jacobson's Kalooki Nights has the fifth-best chance of winning at 10/1.
"Judging the Man Booker Prize puts you through almost as many emotions as there are in the novels," said Hermione Lee, chair of the judges for the award.
"We've tried to be careful and critical judges as well as being passionately involved.
"We have many regrets about some of the novels we've left off, and we could easily have had a longlist of about 30 books, but we're delighted by the variety, the originality, the drama and craft, the human interest and the strong voices in this longlist."
Included in the list was In The Country of Men, Hisham Matar's debut novel.
On the other side of that coin are Gordimer, who won in 1974, Unsworth, a joint winner in 1992, and Carey, who has won twice, in 1998 and 2001.
Mitchell's Cloud Atlas was shortlisted in 2004 but was beaten by Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty.
"Many people believe David Mitchell deserved to win with Cloud Atlas and we think he may have better luck second time around," said Graham Sharpe, a spokesperson for William Hill.
The 19-strong longlist was chosen from a total of 112 books, and will be narrowed once more to a shortlist of six on September 14.
The winner, who will also be awarded a £50 000 prize will be announced on October 10.
The 19 longlisted books are:
Peter Carey - Theft: A Love Story
Kiran Desai - The Inheritance of Loss
Robert Edric - Gathering the Water
Nadine Gordimer - Get A Life
Kate Grenville - The Secret River
MJ Hyland - Carry Me Down
Howard Jacobson - Kalooki Nights
James Lasdun - Seven Lies
Mary Lawson - The Other Side of the Bridge
Jon McGregor - So Many Ways To Begin
Hisham Matar - In The Country of Men
Claire Messud - The Emperor's Children
David Mitchell - Black Swan Green
Naeem Murr - The Perfect Man
Andrew O'Hagan - Be Near Me
James Robertson - The Testament of Gideon Mack
Edward St Aubyn - Mother's Milk
Barry Unsworth - The Ruby In Her Navel
Sarah Waters - The Night Watch
- AFP
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South Africa
