The Man Booker Prize longlist has been announced, and only three British writers have made the cut.
The 13 books include five novels by American writers and works from Irish, Nigerian, Indian, Jamaican and New Zealand authors. In all, seven countries are represented.
The Man Booker Prize was previously restricted to Commonwealth and Irish writers, but a rule-change meant American novelists were included for the first time last year, reports The Guardian. With five US titles on the longlist, or "Man Booker Dozen", Americans now make up the biggest contingent in the running for the prize.
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Among the Americans longlisted is Bill Clegg, a literary agent "known for his ruthless negotiating and memoirs recounting his struggles with crack-cocaine and alcohol". His debut novel, Did You Ever Have a Family, deals with the aftermath of a deadly explosion and explores themes of forgiveness and how people move on after a life-altering tragedy.
Two of the US authors, Anne Tyler and Marilynne Robinson, are Pulitzer Prize-winners.
This year's Man Booker longlist also includes a previous prize winner, Anne Enright. The Irish author, who won the £50,000 prize in 2007, is longlisted for her sixth novel, The Green Road. The book, which deals with family and the Irish diaspora, has been described by the Daily Telegraph as "virtuosic" and "a bold and brilliant way to approach the sadness of a family that fails to connect".
The UK novelists in contention for the prize are Andrew O'Hagan for Illuminations, which examines the themes of war, nationalism and family through a story of a British soldier in Afghanistan; Tom McCarthy for his cerebral, tech-savvy globe-trotting novel Satin Island; and Sunjeev Sahota for his tale of Indian immigrants in Britain, The Year of the Runaways.
Also notable on the list is Marlon James, who has become the first Jamaican writer to be nominated for Man Booker. His novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, tells the story of the attempted assassination of Bob Marley as part of the wider story of violence in Jamaica in the 1970s and 80s. The New York Times wrote: "It's like a Tarantino remake of The Harder They Come but with a soundtrack by Bob Marley and a script by Oliver Stone and William Faulkner."
A shortlist of six books will be unveiled on 15 September, with the overall winner to be announced on 13 October.
The complete Man Booker longlist:
Bill Clegg (US), Did You Ever Have a Family (Jonathan Cape)
Anne Enright (Ireland), The Green Road (Jonathan Cape)
Marlon James (Jamaica), A Brief History of Seven Killings (Oneworld Publications)
Laila Lalami (US), The Moor's Account (Periscope, Garnet Publishing)
Tom McCarthy (UK), Satin Island (Jonathan Cape)
Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria), The Fishermen (ONE, Pushkin Press)
Andrew O'Hagan (UK), The Illuminations (Faber & Faber)
Marilynne Robinson (US), Lila (Virago)
Anuradha Roy (India), Sleeping on Jupiter (MacLehose Press, Quercus)
Sunjeev Sahota (UK), The Year of the Runaways (Picador)
Anna Smaill (New Zealand), The Chimes (Sceptre)
Anne Tyler (US), A Spool of Blue Thread (Chatto & Windus)
Hanya Yanagihara (US), A Little Life (Picador)
