Mistry, Le Carre, Roth in special Booker list

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INDIAN-BORN AUTH-OR Rohinton Mistry, who is based in Canada, has been shortlisted along with 12 other heavyweight writers for the biannual £60,000 Man Booker International Prize.
The shortlist of 13 authors headed into a controversy immediately after the announcement as British spy writer John le Carré asked the Booker prize administrators to withdraw his nomination. Le Carré also does not allow his books to be submitted for the annual Booker Prize to give less established authors the opportunity to win.
His literary agents Curtis Brown released a statement by Le Carré rejecting the nomination. “I am enormously flattered to be named as a finalist of 2011 Man Booker International Prize. However, I do not compete for literary prizes and have therefore asked for my name to be withdrawn,” Le Carré said.
The organisers said Le Carré would stay on the shortlist, but would not be considered for the final prize after his request.
The other writers on the shortlist include American heavyweights Philip Roth and Anne Tyler, followed by Britain’s Philip Pullman, Wang Anyi (China), Juan Goytisolo (Spain), James Kelman (UK), Amin Maalouf (Lebanon), David Malouf (Australia), Dacia Maraini (Italy), Marilynne Robinson (USA) and Su Tong (China).
The winner will be announced at the Sydney Writers’ Festival on May 18 and an awards ceremony will be held in London on June 28.
In 2009, Indian author Mahasweta Devi and Indian-origin Nobel laureate Sir Vidia Naipaul were in contention for the award but were beaten by Canadian writer Alice Munro.
Mistry’s Such a Long Journey (1991), A Fine Balance (1996) and Family Matters (2002) have been previously shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
The prize, instituted in 2004, was first awarded to Albanian writer Ismail Kadaré in 2005. Nigerian author Chinua Achebe was awarded the prize in 2007 and Canadian writer Alice Munro in 2009.
Worth £60,000, the Man Booker International Prize is awarded once every two years to a living author for a body of work that has contributed to an achievement in fiction on the world stage. In addition, there is a separate prize for translation and, if applicable, the winner can choose a translator of his or her work into English to receive a prize of £15,000.
The winner is chosen solely at the discretion of the judging panel; there are no submissions from publishers. The international prize highlights one writer’s continued creativity, development and overall contribution to fiction on the world stage.
The jury for the Man Booker International Prize is headed by writer, academic and rare-book dealer Dr Rick Gekoski and includes publisher, writer and critic Carmen Callil, and award-winning novelist Justin Cartwright.