Sebastian Barry has been included on the longlist for the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction for On Canaan’s Side. The Irish writer was previously shortlisted for A Long, Long Way (2005) and The Secret Scripture (2008). The thirteen novels on the ‘Man Booker Dozen’ includes just one previous winner, Alan Hollinghurst, whose The Stranger’s Child is already short odds to take the ultimate prize.
The titles were chosen from a total of 138 books by a panel of five judges chaired by author and former Director-General of MI5, Dame Stella Rimington. The shortlist of six authors will be announced on September 6 and the winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction will be announced on October 18 at a dinner at London’s Guildhall and will be broadcast on the BBC.
The winner will receive £50,000 and each of the six shortlisted authors, including the winner, will receive £2,500 and a designer bound edition of their book.
