Indian novelist Aravind Adiga’s “The White Tiger,” which tells the story of a man’s dreams of escaping poor village life for success in the big city. Australia’s Steve Toltz’s “A Fraction of the Whole” writes about a father-son relationship. And Ireland’s Sebastian Barry’s “The Secret Scripture”. These fortunate three are first-time nominees to the world’s most prestigous The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, also known in short as the Booker Prize, a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of either the Commonwealth of Nations or Ireland.
The other three authors in the running are Indian writer Amitav Ghosh for “Sea of Poppies,” English author Linda Grant for “The Clothes on Their Backs” and England’s Philip Hensher for “The Northern Clemency.”
The winner of the Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and success. It is also a mark of distinction for authors to be nominated for the Booker longlist or selected for inclusion in the shortlist.