Mukherjee ‘delighted’ to be top 100 list

Indian American Pulitzer Prize winner Siddhartha Mukherjee is “delighted” that his book on cancer has been listed 75th among Time magazine’s All-Time 100 Best Nonfiction Books with President Barack Obama’s autobiography in the third place.

The Delhi-born cancer specialist’s book The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer that made it to the Time magazine’s top 10 non-fiction books of 2010 and The New York Times’ top five list, figures fourth in the science section.

“I am delighted,” Mukherjee, 41, an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University, who won the Pulizer in April, told IANS over the phone from New York where he practices.

Asked what he was writing now he said, “It’s still in the works” and “It’s too early to tell” what it’s about.

Mukherjee, who had his schooling at New Delhi’s St. Columba’s School, where he was five years junior to Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, said then he began writing the book to explain what’s cancer to a patient who told him she was willing to go on fighting but she needed to know what she was battling.

In choosing “the 100 best and most influential written in English since 1923, the beginning of TIME … magazine,” the influential weekly notes Mukherjee’s first book “is also one of the best-written, most accessible, most relevant science books ever penned.”

Full report here Hindustan Times

Nobel Literature Prize to be announced on October 7

The Nobel Literature Prize will be announced on Thursday, October 7 at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT), the Swedish Academy that attributes the prize said on Friday.

Unlike the other Nobel prizes, the date for the Literature announcement traditionally remains secret until just days before the big day, although the prize is always attributed on a Thursday in October.

This year's Nobel season will kick off on Monday with the Medicine Prize, followed by Physics on Tuesday, Chemistry on Wednesday, Literature on Thursday and Peace on Friday.

Full report here Hindustan Times

The write stuff

Rejecting the Kalaimamani award for its taking-the-artiste-for-granted impersonality, Indira Parthasarathy (16 novels, 10 plays, anthologies of short stories, essays) is the recipient of national recognition including the Saraswati Samman, and the only Tamil writer to be given awards by both Sahitya and Sangeet Natak Akademis. Drawing from his life in hometown Kumbakonam, New Delhi, Warsaw and the U.S., Parthasarathy has established himself as a voice of many tones, adding dimensions to character interplay with the resonance of political issues. Here he reflects on experiences shaping his growth as a writer.

When did you realise you were a writer?
A natural process beginning with voracious reading in childhood. In our Vaishnavite home, the poetry of the Alwars was part of daily ritual. But, I don't know what made me read Balzac and Charles Lamb, or the 2,000-page “Missing Links” about ancient Egypt by Vaduvur Doraiswami Iyengar. The same man who wrote ‘pennythrillers' and ‘shillingshockers' that I read aloud to my grandmother, earning one anna for a book.

I gazed at writers Ku Rajagopalan, Karichan Kunju and Thi Janakiraman (my English teacher) as if they were filmstars… (smiling) I began with verse, but had the wisdom to stop when I knew it was not poetry.

You were fascinated by Shelley?
There's something about Shelley that incites you. I imagined I was a great revolutionary, rebelling against agraharam orthodoxy. In college, I became a member of the Communist party, and was suspended briefly for instigating student agitation.

Full interview here Hindu

Sharmila conferred Tagore Peace Prize

Irom Chanu Sharmila, the ‘Iron Lady of Manipur’ has been conferred the Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize by the Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM), New Delhi to honour her courageous and determined struggle for peace in Manipur.

IIPM’s founder director and the chairman of the award selection committee, Dr Malay Chaudhuri along with the institute’s Registrar Ratna Chaudhuri personally visited Sharmila on Saturday last here to confer upon her the prestigious award which includes a sum of Rs 51 lakh along with a gold medal and a citation.

The Rabindranath Tagore Memorial Prize which was instituted as an international award, in memory of Rabindranath Tagore on the occasion of the poet’s 150th birth anniversary in 2011.

The award which was funded by a consortium of institutes and universities in Asia and Europe, is being conferred on individuals and groups who have made significant contributions in the areas of people’s economics, people-centric management, literature and peace.

Full report here Assam Tribune

JG Farrell a worthy winner for the Lost Booker

Winning the Booker prize almost 40 years ago for The Siege of Krishnapur, JG Farrell used his acceptance speech to denounce capitalism, specifically in the form of the prize's sugar-trade sponsors. The late author would no doubt have been delighted to be given a similar platform today after his novel Troubles was chosen by the reading public as winner of the Lost Booker award.

The story of an army major who travels to a decaying Irish hotel in 1919 to meet his rashly acquired fiancee, Troubles was one of six novels published in 1970 to be shortlisted for the Lost Booker, intended to reward books that were ineligible when they were published, thanks to a shift in the fledgling prize's schedule that year, which resulted in the exclusion of almost 12 months' worth of novels from consideration.

More than 4,000 readers worldwide cast votes for their favourite shortlisted novel, with Troubles taking 38% of the vote, more than double that of other contenders by Muriel Spark, Nina Bawden, Shirley Hazzard, Mary Renault and Patrick White.

Full report here Guardian

'It Is Not Awarded By The State Of Israel'

Amitav Ghosh on his refusing to refuse the Dan David Prize: 'I do not believe in embargoes and boycotts where they concern matters of culture and learning.' These, he argues, 'must, in principle, be regarded as autonomous of the state'.

Ever since Amitav Ghosh's name was announced--jointly with Margaret Atwood-- for the Dan David Prize, headquartered at Tel Aviv University, Israel, there have been some protests and campaigns, asking him to decline the prize, reminding him about his withdrawing The Glass Palace from the Commonwealth Prize competition in 2001. "I am not a person who seeks out controversy," he had told us in 2001, and he underlined the same today when we asked him why a private e-mail of his was doing the rounds of email-lists and some websites instead of a formal public statement from him: he did not wish it to become a big public issue, he said, and offered the following version of the statement:

Thank you for your message. I have received many others in relation to the Dan David Prize, which I am sharing with Margaret Atwood.

To begin with let me say that I am appalled by the enforced isolation of Gaza, by the continued expansion of settlements in the West Bank, and by the intransigence and extremism of the present government in Israel. My sympathies go to all of those who have suffered, and are suffering, in this long and destructive conflict.

Full text here Outlook

Dalrymple in Samuel Johnson prize longlist

William Dalrymple is among the 19 authors named for the Samuel Johnson prize longlist.

The longlist was announced on April 22. BBC presenter Evan Davis, who is chairing this year's judges, called it an "unusual and eclectic longlist of terrific books".

The prize, which awards the best in English language non-fiction,  is now in its 12th year. The list includes 19 books, whittled down from 138 submissions. The winner will be named in July and will receive £20,000.

The list:

Alex Bellos - Alex's Adventures in Numberland
Andrew Ross Sorkin - Too Big to Fail: Inside the Battle to Save Wall Street
Jenny Uglow - Charles II, A Gambling Man
Richard Wrangham - Catching Fire: How Cooking made us Human
Frances Stoner Saunders - The Woman who Shot Mussolini
David Kynaston -  Family Britain 1951-1957
Nick Bunker - Making Haste from Babylon.
Sara Wheeler -  The Magnetic North
Stewart Brand - Whole Earth Discipline
Philip Ball -  The Music Instinct
Hilary Spurling - Burying the Bones;
Said Sayrafiezadeh - When Skateboards will be Free
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o -  Dreams in a Time of War
Joe Moran - On Roads
Luke Jennings - Blood Knots
Edward Hollis - The Secret Lives of Buildings
Peter Hessler - Country Driving
Barbara Demick - Nothing to Envy
William Dalrymple - Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India

Chowringhee on foreign fiction shortlist

Chowringhee, an iconic Bengali novel by Kolkata-based Mani Sankar Mukherjee penned in 1962, has been shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction 2009. It is the only novel from Asia to figure on the shortlist. The prize, instituted 10 years ago, is supported by the Arts Council England and Champagne Taittinger, is considered one of the most esteemed for fictions in translation in Britain and beyond. The winner will be announced May 15. The novel has been translated by Arunava Sinha.

The shortlist includes Brodeck's Report by Philippe Claudel, The Blind Side of the Heart by Julia Franck, 'Fists' by Pietro Grossi, 'Broken Glass' by Alain Mabanckou and 'The Dark Side of Love' by Rafik Schami.

Chowringhee written under the pen-named Sankar was first published in 1962. It is woven around the most enduring and elite relic of colonial Kolkata, the Grand Hotel. It appears in his book in the avatar of Shahjahan Hotel.

Full report here Sify News

Champions of the word

Treasures from Berlin to Bengal feature on the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize shortlist

For ten years the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize has been running in its present form. Over that time, and with loyal and generous support from Arts Council England and Champagne Taittinger, it has grown into the most highly esteemed, and eagerly awaited, prize for fiction in translation in Britain – and maybe far beyond.

It would be nice to report (from somewhere in Utopia) that within that short decade UK publishers had galloped to embrace the best in international fiction, and set aside their traditional reluctance to look overseas at any work outside their native tongue. Needless to say, that has not happened - and will not happen any time soon. All the same, the reach and resonance of fiction from beyond the Anglosphere have, beyond any doubt, increased.

Full report here Independent

New media recognized in Pulitzer competition

When the Pulitzer board handed out the most important prizes in journalism, The New York Times and The
Washington Post topped the list of winners- and finalists - as usual.

But they were joined for the first time by a trio of new media publications that scored unprecedented recognition in a competition long dominated by newspapers.

On Monday, judges awarded the nonprofit ProPublica, in collaboration with The New York Times Magazine, a Pulitzer in investigative reporting for a 13,000-word story on the life-and-death decisions made by New Orleans doctors during Hurricane Katrina.

"It is a validation," said Stephen Engelberg, managing editor for the more than two-year-old ProPublica that's based in Manhattan and has only 32 employees. "To be recognized by your peers is an honor and it sort of says to the rest of the group: "Yes, they're here. They're real. They are doing very serious journalism."'

Full report here AP

The Empire's orphan children

As a touchingly emotional Rana Dasgupta rose to receive the Commonwealth Award for the Best Book, he joined a long list of distinguished winners, from Mordecai Richler and Rohinton Mistry to Peter Carey, Vikram Seth and Andrea Levy.

Dasgupta’s Solo, his second book and first novel, is a virtuoso performance, like so many Commonwealth Prize winners. Set in Bulgaria, it explores the painful consequences of the choices made by both nations and individuals. Ulrich is blind, living out his years in a city where all the stories have changed, after “the former villains were cast in bronze and put up in parks”. As his mind wanders through a real and sometimes imaginary past, his life seems like a settling, however unfair, of history’s accounts.

With Peter Carey, J M Coetzee, Thomas Keneally and Chimamanda Adichie on the regional shortlists at one point, it seemed that Solo would be the dark horse of the competition, despite its obvious merits — but the final list of regional winners didn’t include any of the big four, making Dasgupta and Michael Crummey the front-runners for the competition.

Full report here Business Standard

New prize richer than Asian Booker

You know the publishing industry has arrived when it boasts a lucrative, international prize. A new prize for South Asian Literature, instituted in January this year, is open for entries. The prize money is not a sum to sneeze at: $50,000. The reward is considerably bigger than what the Man Asia Literary Prize (or Asian Booker) offers: $30,000.

The award will “recognize writers of any ethnicity writing about South Asia and its diaspora”. You need not belong to South Asia, only write on it. “The prize has porous literary borders,” observes Namita Gokhale, director of the Jaipur Literature Festival, “the world we are living in is the world of the internet. You shouldn’t need a passport to write a book, to win a prize.”

Its global scope is evident from the advisory board that includes Lord Meghnad Desai, journalist Tina Brown, Michael Worton of University College, London, writer Nayantara Sehgal, writer-publisher Urvashi Butalia, publisher-turned-literary agent David Godwin and journalist MJ Akbar. They will select the five-member jury to be in place by end April, with April 24 as last date for entries. Named DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, the prize is being sponsored by construction company DSC Limited, who also fund the Lit Fest.

Full report here Times of India 

Plan to hike cash prizes for Hindi literature awards

The government plans to increase the cash prizes given to winners of Hindi literature awards, according to Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni.

Presenting the Bhartendu Harishchandra Awards, Ms. Soni said the cash prizes, ranging from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 35,000, were rather low from the present day perspective. The Ministry would soon take a decision for its upward revision.

The annual awards are given for original writings in Hindi on journalism and mass communication, national integration, children's literature and women's issues. The 2007 and 2008 prizes were given on Monday.

Full report here Hindu

Amitav Ghosh to share $1-million Israeli award with Margaret Atwood

Even as Amitav Ghosh is working on the second volume of the Ibis trilogy (the first volume, Sea of Poppies, won the 2008 Vodafone Crossword Book Award for fiction and was also shortlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize), his romance with the awards continues. The author of award-winning novels, like The Circle of Reason and The Calcutta Chromosome, has been awarded the $1-million 2010 Dan David Prize for his contribution to modern literature which he will share with Canadian author Margaret Atwood. 

The prize was founded in 2002 by Dan David, an Israeli businessman. It has three categories: Past, Present and Future. The laureates in each category share a $1-million prize. Every year, a different discipline is recognized in each category. The focus each year, however, is on sciences, arts and humanities. Ghosh — and Atwood — are the winners in the present category.

Ghosh garnered much praise from jury members for his fiction which, they said, "is distinguished equally by its precise, beautifully rendered depictions of characters and settings, and by its sweeping sense of history unfolding over generations against the backdrop of the violent dislocations of peoples and regimes during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries."Ghosh will recieve the award at a ceremony at Tel Aviv University on May 9.

Jaipur fest names committee for fiction prize

After weeks of anticipation DSC Ltd on Tuesday, March 23, announced the Advisory Committee for the recently launched DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, which now opens up the registration procedure for entries. The first winner of this prestigious US $50,000 prize will be announced in January, 2011. The prize aims to commemorate fiction writers from across the globe writing about South Asia or its people.

The Advisory Committee of the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature comprises reputed personalities from the world of literature. It represents a wide canvas of experience and a judicious mix in terms of gender, geographies and expertise. The 10-member committee includes:

    * David Godwin, publisher and literary agent (UK)
    * Lord Meghnad Desai, eminent writer and Professor Emeritus, London School of Economics (India, UK)
    * Michael Worton, Vice Provost, University College London (UK)
    * MJ Akbar, distinguished editor and author (India)
    * Nayantara Sahgal, author (India)
    * Surina Narula, businesswoman and fundraiser (NRI,UK)
    * Senath Walter Perera, specialist on Sri Lankan writing in English (Sri Lanka)
    * Tina Brown, Editor and founder of the Daily Beast (US)
    * Urvashi Butalia,  publisher and cofounder of Kali for Women (India)
    * William Dalrymple, author (UK)

Sharing his point of view, Mr Manhad Narula, Director DSC and Member of the DSC Prize Steering Committee said “The setting up of the Advisory Committee is a step forward to recognise the immense pool of talent writing about the South Asian region through the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. We hope that our efforts will encourage new and emerging writers to showcase their work and further enrich the literary heritage of the South Asian region. We would like to thank all the eminent advisory committee members for their assistance in supporting our efforts.

On the occasion Urvashi Butalia, Member Advisory Committee, the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature said “It is a privilege to be associated with a prize which aims to recognise the contribution to South Asian literature. Apart from guiding the prize process, the key role of the Advisory Committee will be to nominate and help select the Judging Panel. We are looking forward to participation from the writers and publishers. We also believe that this prize will help in setting a benchmark for South Asian Literature.”

The judging panel will comprise persons of eminence in literature, arts and culture. The winner will be announced on the final day of the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival in January, 2011.

Full details of the Advisory Committee are available on the website www.dscprize.com. It also outlines the registration procedure whereby publishers can log on to the website and download the entry form for their entries to reach the DSC Prize Secretariat by April 24, 2010.

Sankar's Chowringhee in Indy longlist

A raft of independent publishers working in languages including Arabic, Japanese, Russian and Bengali have made the 15-strong longlist for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, worth £10,000.

Titles from Maia, Comma Press, Bitter Lemon and Atlantic have been nominated alongside Harvill Secker and Chatto, among others.

The prize, in association with Champagne Taittinger, celebrates "an exceptional work of fiction by a living author which has been translated into English", published in the UK in the last year.

2010 is the 10th year since the prize was revived with the support of Arts Council England. The £10,000 prize money is divided between the winning author and translator, who each receive a limited edition magnum of Champagne Taittinger.

Full report here Bookseller
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The longlist:

The Coronation by Boris Akunin, translated by Andrew Bromfield from the Russian (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

To the Music by Ketil Bjornstad, translated by Deborah Dawkin and Erik Skuvvegik from the Norwegian (Maia)

The Madmen of Freedom Square by Hassan Blasim, translated by Jonathan Wright from the Arabic (Comma Press)

Brodeck’s Report by Philippe Claudel, translated by John Cullen from the French (MacLehose Press)

The Blind Side of the Heart by Julia Franck translated by Anthea Bell from the German (Harvill Secker)

Fists by Pietro Grossi, translated by Howard Curtis from the Italian (Pushkin)

Yalo by Elias Khoury, translated by Humphrey Davies from the Arabic (MacLehose Press

The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell, translated by Charlotte Mandell from the French (Chatto & Windus)

Broken Glass by Alain Manbanckou, translated by Halan Stevenson from the French (Serpent’s Tail)

Your Face Tomorrow by Javier Marias, translated by Margaret Jull Costa from the Spanish (Chatto & Windus)

Thursday Night Widows by Claudia Pineiro, translated by Miranda France from the Spanish (Bitter Lemon)

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder from the Japanese (Harvill Secker)

Chowringhee by Sankar, translated by Arunava Sinha from the Bengali (Atlantic Books)

The Dark Side of Love by Rafik Schami, translated by Anthea Bell from the German (Arabia)

Sunset Oasis by Bahaa Taher, translated by Humphrey Davies from the Arabic (Sceptre)

Rana, Daniyal win regional Commonwealth Writer's

Indian novelist Rana Dasgupta's Solo and Pakistan-based author Daniyal Mueenuddin's In Other Rooms, Other Wonders were Thursday declared regional winners of the Commonwealth Writer's Prize for 2010 in the European and South Asian categories.

While Solo  was declared the best book, In Other Rooms, ... was selected as the best first book by an author.

Presented by the Commonwealth Foundation with support from the Macquarie Group Foundation, the global winners of the award will be announced in the Capital on April 12.

A five-day literary event in the run-up to the awards ceremony April 12 will begin April 7 with a series of interactive literary sessions. This is the first time that the event is being held in the Indian capital, which will also host the Commonwealth Games in October.

Full report here IBNLive

Related news

PIO writer bags Commonwealth prize Times of India 

Pakistani writer qualifies for final stage of C'wealth Writers' Prize Daily Times 

Commonwealth writers' prize 2010 The News International 

Samoan poet sweeps away Australians Sydney Morning Herald

Amitav Ghosh wins Israeli prize

Amitav Ghosh was named as one of the three winners of the international Dan David Prize, which annually awards three prizes of US$1 million each for outstanding achievement.

The Dan David Prize is named after international businessman and philanthropist Dan David and is headquartered at Tel Aviv University. The laureates, who donate 10% of their prize money towards 20 doctoral and postdoctoral scholarships, will be honoured at a ceremony onMay 9, 2010 at Tel Aviv University in the presence of the President of the State of Israel.

The citation for him read: "for his novels which offer a panoramic treatment of twentieth-century history from a postcolonial perspective and a transnational understanding of the self seen as the intersection of the many identities produced by the collision of languages and cultures".

Four Indians nominated for Commonwealth Writers' Prize

Noted authors Keki N. Daruwalla and Amit Chaudhuri are among the four Indians nominated for the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2010. Besides Daruwalla's For Pepper and Christ and Chaudhuri's The Immortals, authors Rana Dasgupta and Chandrahas Chowdhury have also been nominated for their books Solo and Arzee the Dwarf, respectively.

While Solo and Arzee The Dwarf  have been published by HarperCollins-India, For Pepper and Christ has been published by Penguin-Books India and The Immortals has been published by Picador-India.

For Pepper and Christ is a historic tale of sailors voyaging during the time of Vasco Da Gama that weaves itself around the legend of Prestor John and spice trade. The Immortals is the story of two families in Mumbai of the 'eighties bound by music.

Other nominees for best book in Europe and South Asia include The Beijing of Possibilities by Jonathan Tel (Britian), Heartland by Anthony Catwright (Britain) In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin (Pakistan) and Another Gulmohar Tree by Aamer Hussain (Pakistan), a communique issued by HarperCollins said on Friday.

Full report here Little About

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The regional winners shortlisted are:
Africa
The shortlisted writers for Africa's Best Book are:

Trespass by Dawn Garisch (South Africa)
The Double Crown by Marié Heese (South Africa)
The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)
Eyo by Abidemi Sanusi (Nigeria)
Tsamma Season by Rosemund Handler (South Africa)
Refuge by Andrew Brown (South Africa)
Kings of the Water by Mark Behr (South Africa)

The shortlisted writers for Africa's Best First Book are:
I Do Not Come to You by Chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani (Nigeria
The Shape of Him by Gill Schierhout (South Africa)
The Shadow of a Smile by Kachi Ozumba (Nigeria)
Come Sunday by Isla Morley (South Africa)
Sleepers Wake by Alistair Morgan (South Africa)
Jelly Dog Days by Erica Emdon (South Africa)
Harmattan Rain by Aysha Harunna Attah (Ghana)

Caribbean and Canada
The shortlisted writers or the Caribbean and Canada Best Book are:
The Winter Vault by Anne Michaels (Canada)
February by Lisa Moore (Canada)
Euphoria by Connie Gault (Canada)
Goya's Dog by Damian Tarnopolsky (Canada)
Galore by Michael Crummey (Canada)
The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon (Canada)

The shortlisted writers for the Caribbean and Canada Best First Book are:
Under this Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell (Canada)
Daniel O'Thunder by Ian Weir (Canada)
The Island Quintet: Five Stories by Raymond Ramchartiar (Trinidad)
Diary of Interrupted Days by Dragan Todorovic (Canada)
The Briss by Michael Tregebov (Canada)
Amphibian by Carla Gunn (Canada)

South Asia and Europe
The shortlisted writers for South Asia and Europe Best Book are:
Solo by Rana Dasgupta (Britain)
For Pepper and Christ: A Novel by Keki Daruwalla (India)
The Beijing of Possibilities by Jonathan Tel (Britain)
Heartland by Anthony Catwright (Britain)
Another Gulmohar Tree by Aamer Hussein (Pakistan)
The Immortals by Amit Chaudhuri (India)

The shortlisted writers for South Asia and Europe Best First Book are:
The Hungry Ghosts by Anne Berry (Britain)
Arzee the Dwarf by Chandrahas Choudhury (India)
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin (Pakistan)
Among Thieves by Mez Packer (Britain)
An Equal Stillness by Francesca Kay (Britain)
Tail of the Blue Bird by Nii Parkes (Britain)

South East Asia and Pacific
The shortlisted writers for South East Asia and Pacific Best Book are:
Summertime by J.M Coetzee (Australia)
A Good Land by Nada Awar Jarrar (Australia)
The Adventures of Vela by Albert Wendt (Samoa)
Singularity by Charlotte Grimshaw (New Zealand)
The People's Train by Thomas Keneally (Australia)
Parrot and Oliver in America by Peter Carey (Australia)

The shortlisted writers for South East Asia and Pacific Best First Book are:
The Ice Age by Kirsten Reed (Australia)
After the fire, a still small voice by Evie Wyld (Australia)
Look Who's Morphing by Tom Cho (Australia)
Document Z by Andrew Croome (Australia)
Come Inside by Glenys Osborne (Australia)
Siddon Rock by Glenda Guest (Australia)

Mahasweta Devi, VS Naipaul in Man Booker shortlist

Mahasweta Devi and VS Naipaul are among the 14 writers from 12 countries who are in the running for this year’s Man Booker International Prize.

Also on the list is doube Booker winner Peter Carey from Australia. Others in the list include Manuel Vargas from Peru, UK's James Kelman and three Americans including Evan S Connell. Also on the list are Croatian Dubravka Ugresic and Russian Ludmila. Arnost Lustig from the Czech Republic and Italian Antonio Tabucchi complete the list.

The £60,000 award, instituted in 2004, is different from the annual and better-known Man Booker Prize. This one recognises a writer’s life-time achievement rather than judging him or her on the basis of the latest work.

It is given every two years to a writer who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in English.

The previous two winners of the award are the Albanian writer Ismail Kadare and the Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe. Kadare won the inaugural one in 2005. This year’s contenders were chosen by a panel of judges that included Amit Chaudhuri.

The winner will be announced in May.