PH
The winner of the Man Booker Prize is announced later with Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life the bookies’ favourite to take the £50,000 prize.
Yanagihara’s novel, the story of four college friends seeking fame and fortune in New York, is tipped to win by bookmakers William Hill and Coral.
It is the second year the prize is open to all authors writing in English, regardless of nationality.
The winner will be announced at London’s Guildhall on Tuesday night.
This year’s shortlist features two authors from the UK, two from the US and one each from Jamaica and Nigeria.
The shortlist of authors and titles is as follows:
- Marlon James (Jamaica), A Brief History of Seven Killings
- Tom McCarthy (UK), Satin Island
- Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria), The Fishermen
- Sunjeev Sahota (UK), The Year of the Runaways
- Anne Tyler (US), A Spool of Blue Thread
- Hanya Yanagihara (US), A Little Life
Victory for either Yanagihara or Tyler would see the Man Booker have its first American winner.
Marlon James is the first Jamaican-born author to be shortlisted for the prize. William Hill said his novel, which explores the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in the late 1970s, had moved up from fifth favourite to second favourite.
This year’s judges are Michael Wood (chair), Ellah Wakatama Allfrey, John Burnside, Sam Leith and Frances Osborne. They considered 156 books for this year’s prize.
McCarthy is the only shortlisted author to have been nominated before, having been shortlisted for C in 2010.
At 28 years old, Obioma is the youngest nominee, the same age as 2013 winner Eleanor Catton.
The shortlisted authors each receive £2,500 and a specially bound edition of their book. The winner will receive a further cheque for £50,000.
Australian author Richard Flanagan won last year’s prize for his wartime novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North.
Coverage from this year’s ceremony, where the prize will be presented by the Duchess of Cornwall. will be on the BBC News Channel from 2130 BST.
