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First-timers make Booker shortlist as Rushdie misses out

09/09/2008

Two first-time novelists have been named on the shortlist for the 2008 Man Booker Prize for Fiction while Sir Salman Rushdie has been omitted.

Aravind Adiga and Steve Toltz were named on the prestigious shortlist for their debut novels while Rushdie's The Enchantress of Florence did not make the cut after being included in the 13-book longlist.

Joseph O'Neill's Netherland, which had also been tipped for the prize, also failed to make the 2008 shortlist.

Philip Hensher, Sebastian Barry and Linda Grant - the only woman on the list - have all reached the longlist before, (though Barry's 2002 novel A Long, Long Way eventually reached the shortlist for that year's prize).

Michael Portillo, who chaired the judging panel, said the shortlist was comprised of novels which were "intensely readable…" and "extraordinary example of imagination and narrative".

"The judges commend the six titles to readers with great enthusiasm," he added. "These fine page-turning stories nonetheless raise highly thought-provoking ideas and issues. These books are in every case both ambitious and approachable."

The full shortlist is as follows:

Aravind Adiga - The White Tiger
Sebastian Barry - The Secret Scripture
Amitav Ghosh - Sea of Poppies
Linda Grant - The Clothes on Their Backs
Philip Hensher - The Northern Clemency
Steve Tolz - A Fraction of the Whole

The winner of this year's £50,000 prize will be announced on October 14th.