Man International Booker Prize

Every summer, the announcement of the Man Booker Prize long list kicks off a conversation that lasts until October, when a winner is named. So it's no shock that this year's slate, announced Tuesday, has done exactly that. What is surprising is the presence of one name among the 13 long-listed authors: Tom Rob Smith, a 29-year-old London screenwriter who made a critical and commercial splash earlier this year with his debut thriller, "Child 44."

Two first-time novelists are among six finalists for the prestigious Man Booker prize for fiction. Indian novelist Aravind Adiga was nominated Tuesday for his debut, "The White Tiger," which tells the story of a man's dreams of escaping poor village life for success in the big city. Australia's Steve Toltz, another first-time novelist, writes about a father-son relationship in "A Fraction of the Whole."

Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe won the 2007 Man Booker International Prize for fiction Wednesday, beating such celebrated nominees as Philip Roth, Margaret Atwood and Ian McEwan. The $120,000 prize is awarded in London every two years for a body of fiction. Achebe, 76, is best known for his first novel, "Things Fall Apart" (1958), and "Anthills of the Savannah," published more than 30 years later.

When a book is on an award juggernaut -- like Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" -- things can seem predestined. How could the writer not win this or that award? Yet no book this year has "inevitable winner" stamped on it, as Man Booker Prize judge Giles Foden's piece last week in the Guardian suggests.

Anne Enright won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction on Tuesday with "The Gathering," an evocation of how dark secrets shape one Irish family, topping favorites Ian McEwan and Lloyd Jones in the contest for Britain's most prestigious literary award. Fusing melancholic lyricism with tart wit, Enright's fourth novel defeated McEwan, Jones and three lesser-known finalists to claim the cash award of $102,000 at a black-tie dinner in London.

Indian writer Kiran Desai won Britain's prestigious Man Booker Prize Tuesday for "The Inheritance of Loss," a cross-continental saga that moves from the Himalayas to New York City. Desai, daughter of novelist Anita Desai, had been one of the favorites for the $93,000 prize. Born in 1971 and educated in India, England and the United States, Desai published her first novel, "Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard," in 1998.

Indian novelist Kiran Desai said she may never have won the Booker Prize, one of the world's most prestigious literary awards, had George W. Bush not been the U.S. president -- because he put her off becoming an American citizen. The Man Booker Prize is open to British and Commonwealth citizens, and the Indian-born Desai has yet to apply for a U.S. passport, although she has lived in New York for 20 years.

Nobel laureates Saul Bellow, Gunter Grass and Gabriel Garcia Marquez were among 18 finalists announced Friday for the first-ever Man International Booker Prize, a lifetime achievement award worth about $115,000. "For us, these are 18 authors who combine uniqueness and universality and remind us irresistibly of the joy of reading," said novelist John Casey, chairman of the Booker judging panel. Casey spoke at a news conference in Washington, D.C.

Six finalists were named in London on Thursday for Britain's prestigious -- and financially rewarding -- Man Booker Prize, but U.S. readers will have to wait to read most of the titles. The finalists include "Never Let Me Go," about three young friends being raised to supply body parts to others, by Kazuo Ishiguro, who previously won for "The Remains of the Day." The short list includes three other previous finalists.

The Man Booker is the mother of all literary prizes. But it isn't for the $91,800 cash award that grown men threaten to shoot themselves. It isn't for the unquestionable increase in profits from sales, likely film and foreign rights. It isn't even for the glamour, though tonight's announcement, televised throughout the United Kingdom, is more like our Oscars than any bookish ceremony. It is for the sheer, indelible prestige of the thing.