Man Booker Prize shortlist announced

The lucky six. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Yesterday, among the release of such popular titles as The Last Song and Dexter by Design here in the U.S., the shortlist of the Man Booker Prize was announced at a press conference at the Man Group's London headquarters.

The Man Booker Prize (also known as the Booker Prize) was founded in 1968, and awards £50,000 to a citizen from the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland or Zimbabwe who has written the best original full-length novel. The novel is chosen by a panel of judges which changes every year and is generally composed of notable figures, critics, writers and academics.

Judge Chair James Naughtie announced the six novels which advanced through the longlist, which was released in late July. He commented that the quality of this groups of authors "will certainly give us a headache when we come to select the winner. The choice will be a difficult one. There is thundering narrative, great inventiveness, poetry and sharp human insight in abundance."

The first of the six novels still in the running for the Booker Prize is A.S. Byatt's The Children's Book, which follows a fairy tale writer and her children during the summer before World War One. Olive Wellwood writes a private book for each of her three children (daughters Dorothy and Hedda and son Tom), "bound in a different color and placed on a shelf." Byatt's Possession won the Booker Prize in 1990.

J.M. Coetzee would be the first author to win three times if his novel, Summertime is chosen this year. Completing Coetzee's fictionalized memoir trilogy, Summertime chronicles the efforts of a biographer to writer a book about the late author, John Coetzee. Interviewing everyone who was important to him from 1972 to 1977, the biographer attempts to establish a portrait of a writer just as he is "finding his feet."

The Quickening Maze is the third novel in contention, written by Adam Foulds, who at 34 is the youngest author to make the shortlist this year. A fictionalized account of real life, Foulds' tale centers around the poet John Clare, who finds himself in High Beach Asylum, which is located near the home of fellow poet Alfred Tennyson. The complicated relationships between the poets, inmates and staff are explored to their full poetic potential in this historical novel.

Another historical fiction, Wolf Hall was written by former judge of the Booker Prize, Hilary Mantel, who was longlisted for the Prize in 2005. The novel, set during the time of Henry VIII, focuses on Thomas Cromwell, who inserts himself into the uncertain world of the court of a king without an heir. Each character is shown for their complexities, from Cromwell's master manipulations to Henry VIII's violently changing moods.

Simon Mawer's The Glass Room is a story of a family and a country, experienced through a single building. Mawer's novel takes place in Czechoslovakia from the years leading up to the Second World War to the collapse of Communism near the end of the 20th century. The unique modern architecture of the Landauer's home makes it a symbol for every historical event it witnesses, from Nazi to Soviet occupation.

Rounding out the six nominees is The Little Stranger. A ghost story from popular author Sarah Waters, The Little Stranger also involves a symbolic abode. Dr. Faraday visits Hundred Halls thirty years after his mother worked as a maid there, this time arriving as an urgently requested physician. The house has crumbled from its former glory, as has the place of the country gentry in the English class system.   Becoming entangled in the relationships of the family and staff, circumstances soon move farther away from what Dr. Faraday can scientifically explain.

The winner of the Man Booker Prize will be announced October 6th at a dinner held in London's Guildhall, which can be seen through BBC News online.