2012 Man Booker Prize Longlist Announced

Posted on July 26, 2012

The longlist for the 2012 Man Booker Prize has been announced. The 12 books were chosen by a panel of judges chaired by Sir Peter Stothard, editor of the Times Literary Supplement.

The 2012 longlist includes four debut novels, three small independent publishers and one previous winner. Of the 12 writers, seven are men and five women. The eldest on the list is Michael Frayn at 78 and the youngest is Ned Beauman at 27.

Here is the 2012 longlist:

Nicola Barker, The Yips (Fourth Estate)
Ned Beauman, The Teleportation Accident (Sceptre)
Andre Brink, Philida (Harvill Secker)
Tan Twan Eng, The Garden of Evening Mists (Myrmidon Books)
Michael Frayn, Skios (Faber & Faber)
Rachel Joyce, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Doubleday)
Deborah Levy, Swimming Home (And Other Stories)
Hilary Mantel, Bring up the Bodies (Fourth Estate)
Alison Moore, The Lighthouse (Salt)
Will Self, Umbrella (Bloomsbury)
Jeet Thayil, Narcopolis (Faber & Faber)
Sam Thompson, Communion Town (Fourth Estate)

Stothard said in a statement, "Goodness, madness and bewildering urban change are among the themes of this year's longlist. In an extraordinary year for fiction the 'Man Booker Dozen' proves the grip that the novel has on our world. We did not set out to reject the old guard but, after a year of sustained critical argument by a demanding panel of judges, the new has come powering through."