Man Booker 2014

In short, the Man Booker Prize For Fiction is one of the most prestigious awards in the literary world and this year the entry rules have changed.

For the first time the judges have considered entries from across the globe as long as they’re written in English (previously only British and Commonwealth authors were considered). As a result, this year’s longlist features four Americans, six Britons, two Irish writers and one Australian.

Back in 2013, 28-year-old Eleanor Catton won the £50,000 prize for her second novel, The Luminaries.

This year, How To Be Both author Ali Smith is one of only three women on the 13-book-strong list. Karen Joy Fowler’s psychological family drama We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and Siri Hustvedt’s The Blazing World (a novel exploring ideas of identity and gender, set against the New York art scene) also feature.

Harold Jacobson is the only nominated author to have won before (he scooped the prize in 2010 for The Finkler Question) and both David Mitchell and Ali Smith were shortlisted in previous years. David Nicholls, author of international bestsellers and Starter For Ten is also on the list for his new work Us.

With the Man Booker longlist in mind, you won’t be short of great books to add to your summer reading list. For more literary recommendations subscribe to ELLE now and become part of #ELLEbookclub.

Longlist:

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, Joshua Ferris

The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler

The Blazing World, Siri Hustvedt

J, Howard Jacobson

The Wake, Paul Kingsnorth

The Bone Clocks, David Mitchell

The Lives of Others, Neel Mukherjee

Us, David Nicholls

The Dog, Joseph O'Neill

Orfeo, Richard Powers