Man Booker 2010 longlist announced

Below are 13 novels that made the longlist for the United Kingdom’s 2010 Man Booker Prize. The shortlist will be announced on September 7. The award winner will be announced on October 12. Last year, Hilary Mantel won for Wolf Hall.

According to the Man Booker website, the prize, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2008, aims to reward the best novel of the year written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland.

One book on this year’s long list — The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas — is causing controversy. According to The Guardian: “…while some readers including, evidently, the Booker judges speak excitedly of the Australian author’s bravery in tackling uncomfortable truths, others criticise the word-of-mouth hit as ‘offensive’ and say it is full of ‘unbelievable misogyny’. The Slap is turning out to be the most divisive Booker novel in years.”

You can read an interview with Tsiolkas from the book’s linked title below.  Also below is the rest of the 2010 Booker longlist. The books are linked to websites offering more information. Or, you can go to the Man Booker web page that gathers the books with summaries in one place. Being this is a British prize, not all the books are published yet in the U.S.

Peter Carey: Parrot and Olivier in America
Published in the U.S. in April 2010 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing

Emma Donoghue: Room
Scheduled to be published in the U.S. in September 2010 by Little, Brown & Company

Helen Dunmore:  The Betrayal
Not scheduled for U.S. publication at this time

Damon Galgut: In a Strange Room
Scheduled to be published in the U.S. this month by McClelland & Stewart Ltd. (paperback)
Correction: In a Strange Room is not yet scheduled for publicaton in the U.S. McCelland & Stewart is a Canadian publisher.

Howard Jacobson: The Finkler Question
Not scheduled for U.S. publication at this time

Andrea Levy: The Long Song
Published in the U.S. in April 2010 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Tom McCarthy: C
Scheduled to be published in the U.S. in September 2010 by Knopf

David Mitchell: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
Published in the U.S. in June 2010 by Random House

Lisa Moore: February
Published in the U.S. in February 2010 by Grove Press/Black Cat (paperback)

Paul Murray: Skippy Dies
Scheduled to be published in the U.S. end of this month by Faber & Faber

Rose Tremain: Trespass
Scheduled to be published in the U.S. October 2010 by W. W. Norton & Co.

Christos Tsiolkas: The Slap
Published in the U.S. in April 2010 by Penguin (paperback)

Alan Warner: The Stars in the Bright Sky
Not available at this time in the U.S.