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American invasion of Man Booker Prize

LONDON — American authors dominate the Man Booker Prize longlist this year for the first time, confirming widely expressed fears that Britons would be sidelined following a controversial rule change.

Marilynne Robinson

Marilynne Robinson

LONDON — American authors dominate the Man Booker Prize longlist this year for the first time, confirming widely expressed fears that Britons would be sidelined following a controversial rule change.

Five Americans feature on the list of 13, while the number of British and Irish writers has been halved to a total of four.

David Godwin, a leading literary agent whose clients include former winner Arundhati Roy, said it was “absolutely tragic” that the very essence of the prize had been compromised in such a way.

“Our worst fears have come to pass,” he said. “The Booker prize was established to celebrate British and Commonwealth writers, but they are the real casualties here. They have been overwhelmed.

“Its nature has changed dramatically and the consequences are really tragic. There was absolutely no need to change the rules. None of the major American prizes are open to Brits. It’s a very sad state of affairs.”

Godwin said the position was exacerbated by the fact that the sole Nigerian and Jamaican contenders, Chigozie Obioma and Marlon James, primarily lived and worked in New York.

The three British contenders are Tom McCarthy, Andrew O’Hagan and Sunjeev Sahota. Ireland’s Anne Enright, who won in 2007 with The Gathering, is an early favourite.

But three British authors who had been widely expected to feature — Pat Barker, Salman Rushdie and Kazuo Ishiguro — have all been snubbed.

Until last year, the prize was restricted to authors from the Commonwealth and the Republic of Ireland, but the fiction award was opened up to writers of any nationality writing in English.

The change prompted concerns that the prize, traditionally considered a platform for writing from Africa and Asia, had lost its identity.

Fears that the culturally dominant Americans would drive out the competition proved unfounded last year, when just four native writers made the longlist. But the shift this year is exacerbated by the unusually small number of British authors, which has been matched only once before, in 2013.

Although this year’s list is skewed in favour of Americans, it is also dominated by women. Seven female authors appear on the list of 13, compared to just three in 2014.

The list comprises books by five Americans, three Britons, and one each from Ireland, Nigeria, India, New Zealand and Jamaica. It features three debut writers: Bill Clegg, Chigozie Obioma and Anna Smaill.

Of the Britons, two are Booker veterans. McCarthy, whose book C was shortlisted in 2010, is back in contention with Satin Island.

O’Hagan was shortlisted for his novel Our Fathers in 1999 and longlisted for Be Near Me in 2006. He is back in the running with The Illuminations, about an 82-year-old woman with early-stage dementia and her grandson who is serving in Afghanistan.

James is the first Jamaican-born novelist to make the cut. His novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, tells the story of the attempted assassination of Bob Marley.

But Americans Marilynne Robinson and Hanya Yanagihara were installed as the early bookmakers’ favourites.

Michael Wood, chair of the judging panel, an author and academic, said he understood why many felt aggrieved about the enlarged pool of entrants.

“I am sympathetic to that view,” he said. “But it’s much better to have a bigger prize for English language books. I think that’s a better deal.”

The Man Booker Prize awards £50,000 (S$107,000) to the best novel written in English. Last year’s winner was Australian Richard Flanagan for his wartime novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North. The shortlist will be announced on Sept 15 and the winner named on Oct 13. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

Man Booker Prize 2015 longlist

Bill Clegg (US): Did You Ever Have A Family

Anne Enright (Ireland): The Green Road

Marlon James (Jamaica): A Brief History Of Seven Killings

Laila Lalami (US): The Moor’s Account

Tom McCarthy (UK): Satin Island

Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria): The Fishermen

Andrew O’Hagan (UK): The Illuminations

Marilynne Robinson (US): Lila

Anuradha Roy (India): Sleeping On Jupiter

Sunjeev Sahota (UK): The Year Of The Runaways

Anna Smaill (New Zealand): The Chimes

Anne Tyler (US): A Spool Of Blue Thread

Hanya Yanagihara (US): A Little Life

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