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Booker winner announced tonight

A panel of judges is preparing to announce the winner of this year's Booker Prize at an awards ceremony in London tonight.

Six novels are in the running for the prestigious prize for the best full-length novel of the year written by a British, Irish or Commonwealth author.

Australian novelist Peter Carey is the 6-4 favourite to win the £21,000 cheque for his book 'The True History of the Kelly Gang'.

Carey previously won the Booker in 1988 for 'Oscar and Lucinda'.

Second favourite is another former prizewinner, Ian McEwan. He won for his novel 'Amsterdam' in 1998 and this year is nominated for 'Atonement'.

The other nominees are: Andrew Miller for 'Oxygen', David Mitchell for 'number9dream', Rachel Seiffert for 'The Dark Room' and Ali Smith for 'Hotel World'.

This year saw a Booker Prize long-list for the first time in the prize's history.

The six novels that were shortlisted were chosen from an original list of 24.

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