Peter Carey, Emma Donoghue Up For Booker Prize

Australian writer Peter Carey moved closer to a literary hat trick Tuesday, Sep 7 when he was named a finalist for fiction's prestigious Booker Prize, an award he has already won twice.

Carey's Parrot and Olivier in America — a U.S. odyssey inspired by philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville — is one of six contenders for the 50,000-pound ($77,000) prize, which guarantees a glut of media attention and a big boost in sales.

Carey took home Bookers in 1988 for Oscar and Lucinda and in 2001 for True History of the Kelly Gang. He would be the first writer to win the prize three times, but is considered a long shot.

The early favorite, according to bookmaker William Hill, is British writer Tom McCarthy, whose wildly experimental C — the story of a technology-obssessed 20th-century everyman — has drawn comparisons to James Joyce.

Full report here NPR


The shortlist
Peter Carey Parrot and Olivier in America
Emma Donoghue Room
Damon Galgut In a Strange Room
Howard Jacobson The Finkler Question
Andrea Levy The Long Song
Tom McCarthy C