The longlist for the 2012 Man Booker Prize has been announced, but there are no Irish authors among the 12 writers.
Also absent from the longlist are the likes of Martin Amis, Pat Barker, Ian McEwan and Zadie Smith, with four first-time novelists - Rachel Joyce, Alison Moore, Jeet Thayil and Sam Thompson - included.
The longlisted authors are:
Nicola Barker, The Yips
Ned Beauman, The Teleportation Accident
André Brink, Philida
Tan Twan Eng, The Garden of Evening Mists
Michael Frayn, Skios
Rachel Joyce, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
Deborah Levy, Swimming Home
Hilary Mantel, Bring up the Bodies
Alison Moore, The Lighthouse
Will Self, Umbrella
Jeet Thayil, Narcopolis
Sam Thompson, Communion Town
Bookies have made previous Booker winner Hilary Mantel the favourite to win again at 3/1.
Commenting, Peter Stothard, Chair of Judges, said: "Goodness, madness and bewildering urban change are among the themes of this year's longlist.
"In an extraordinary year for fiction the 'Man Booker Dozen' proves the grip that the novel has on our world. We did not set out to reject the old guard but, after a year of sustained critical argument by a demanding panel of judges, the new has come powering through."
