2012 Booker Longlist Announced

The list of 12 authors and titles was posted yesterday at the Booker Prize Website. The longlist includes:

1. Nicola Barker, The Yips (Fourth Estate)
2. Ned Beauman, The Teleportation Accident (Sceptre)
3. André Brink, Philida (Harvill Secker)
4. Tan Twan Eng, The Garden of Evening Mists (Myrmidon Books)
5. Michael Frayn, Skios (Faber & Faber)
6. Rachel Joyce, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Doubleday)
7. Deborah Levy, Swimming Home (And Other Stories)
8. Hilary Mantel, Bring up the Bodies (Fourth Estate)
9. Alison Moore, The Lighthouse (Salt)
10. Will Self, Umbrella (Bloomsbury)
11. Jeet Thayil, Narcopolis (Faber & Faber)
12. Sam Thompson, Communion Town (Fourth Estate)

The 2012 longlist includes four debut novels, three small independent publishers and one previous winner. Of the 12 writers, seven are men and five women; nine are British, one Indian, one South African and one Malaysian. The eldest on the list is Michael Frayn at 78 and the youngest is Ned Beauman at 27.

The shortlist of six authors will be announced at a press conference at the Man Group headquarters on Tuesday 11 September 2012. The winner of the 2012 prize will be announced at a dinner at London’s Guildhall on Tuesday 16 October, in a ceremony covered by the BBC. Each of the six shortlisted writers is awarded £2,500 and a specially commissioned beautifully handbound edition of his/her book. The winner receives a further £50,000.