Anne Tyler, Jamaica’s Marlon James on Booker Prize shortlist

A British author of Indian descent is one of the six novelists short-listed for the prestigious Man Booker Prize, 2015. The prize was originally open only to authors from the United Kingdom & Commonwealth, Republic of Ireland and Zimbabwe.

British author Tom McCarthy, the only nominee to have been shortlisted before, is recognised for “Satin Island”, while compatriot Sunjeev Sahota was nominated for “The Year of the Runaways“.

Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria) for The Fishermen: For Obioma, the shortlist itself is a stellar achievement at the young age of 28, that too for his first novel.

Anne Tyler’s A Spool of Blue Thread is less downbeat than the rest, a family saga set in Baltimore.

Other than Tyler’s book, though, the other titles share a few features despite their very different plots, settings, ostensible themes, and objectives. The authors include two Americans, two Brits, a Nigerian and, for the first time in the prize’s history, a Jamaican, Marlon James [pictured above].

This year’s Booker victor will be announced on Tuesday October 13 with bookies putting Yanagihara as the hot favourite to scoop the award.

Wood is joined on the judging panel by Ellah Wakatama Allfrey, John Burnside, Sam Leith and Frances Osborne. She won a Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for her 11th novel, “Breathing Lessons“, and her 10th novel, “The Accidental Tourist”, was made into a film starring William Hurt, Kathleen Turner and Geena Davis.

The six names were announced by chair of the judges, Michael Wood, at a press conference at the offices of sponsor Man Group. A Little Life appears, on the surface, to be a bildungsroman about four successful New Yorkers, but gradually expands its vision to become a harrowing exploration of abuse, recovery and the struggle to reinvent one’s self.

Jonathan Ruppin, web editor for Foyles bookshops, tipped Yanigihara’s “A Little Life” to win the 2015 prize. English-language writing is a global phenomenon, blending a huge range of cultures, and the world’s biggest literary award now reflects this far better’. “It’s the book on the shortlist that most obviously exhibits the characteristics of a future classic”.