2 Indians among 13 Booker nominees

Two Indians, Nikita Lalwani and Indra Sinha, are in contention for this years’ Man Booker Prize, Britain’s most coveted and prestigious literary award.

Lalwani’s first novel Gifted and Sinha’s Animal's People are among the 13-title longlist for the £50,000 book of the year prize. A six-strong shortlist will be unveiled on September 6, and the winner announced at the Guildhall in London on October 16.

The longlist was whittled down from 110 entries from across the UK, Ireland and the Commonwealth, after judges spent more than six hours deliberating on the final 13.

It remains to be if either Lalwani or Sinha would follow Kiran Desai who won last year for her novel The Inheritance of Loss.

The inclusion of two India-born novelists in a list, which Janine Cook, fiction buyer of Waterstone’s, the biggest bookstore in Europe, described as “The Man Booker at its best — a longlist that champions new emerging writers”, is commendable and highlights the presence of Indian writers in the contemporary English literary world.

The list — described as that of “David and Goliaths” — is shorn of well-known household names and dominated by newcomers. But a commentator said the highly charged stories from around the world have a strong presence.

Chair of judges, Howard Davies, said: “All the books chosen are well-crafted and will appeal to a wide readership.”

The bookies have installed Ian McEwan for his On Chesil Beach, a tragic love story set in the sixties, as a 3-1 favourite to win this year’s prize.

With three previous appearances on the shortlist for the author, he will face competition from authors including AN Wilson, Nicola Barker, Lloyd Jones and Anne Enright.

Apart from McEwan, no other contenders have even been shortlisted in the past, including Lalwani and Sinha.