New talent writes chapter in Man Booker list

Judges for top British literary award the Man Booker Prize spurned big-name novelists in favour of experimental new talent as they announced their shortlist in London on Tuesday.

None of the six writers who made the cut for the coveted prize for fiction is well known outside literary circles. Those who failed to make the shortlist included Nobel Prize winner J.M. Coetzee, with The Schooldays of Jesus.

The panel of judges told a press conference they wanted to reward creative pioneers. Bookmaker Ladbrokes has made Graeme Macrae Burnet favourite to win with His Bloody Project at odds of 5/2. Other shortlisted novels include US author Paul Beatty’s The Sellout, a satirical novel set in a fictional Los Angeles neighbourhood which explores racial equality and the civil rights movement. Another was All That Man Is by Canadian-British author David Szalay, which judge Jon Day said was about “masculinity and the state of contemporary Europe, a post-Brexit novel for our times”.

South African-born Briton Debor-ah Levy is the only author previously shortlisted for the prize to make this year’s final six. She made the cut for Swimming Home in 2012 but this year is included for Hot Milk, described by its publishers as “a study in paralysis” set in a Spanish fishing village. Others are Eileen by American first-time author author Ottessa Moshfegh and Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Canada’s Madeleine Thein. The Man Booker carries a cash prize of £50,000, but its higher reward lies in prestige which typically generates huge sales.