Man Booker Prize Shortlist |

It's a busy day in the literary world with the announcements of the Scotiabank Giller Prize Longlist and the Man Booker Prize shortlist. This year, Canadians Esi Edugyan and Patrick deWitt have been nominated for both awards.

The Man Booker shortlist has been criticized this year for focusing on new names in literature. Four of the shortlisted novels were published by independent publishers. Two previous nominees, Sebastian Barry and Alan Hollinghurst were not included on the shortlist although they were seen by some critics as frontrunners in the competition. However, two debut novels, Snowdrops by A.D. Miller and Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman are finalists for the award.

This year's nominees are:

Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch

Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

Snowdrops by A.D. Miller