Music
13 Sep 17

Surprise as The Underground Railroad is not included on 2017 Man Booker Shortlist

Surprise as <i>The Underground Railroad</i> is not included on 2017 Man Booker Shortlist

The shortlist has startled many as the final six names did not include Zadie Smith and bookies favourite, Colson Whitehead whose sixth novel, The Underground Railroad has already earned him a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

It is American authors, Paul Auster for 4 3 2 1 and George Saunders for Lincoln in the Bardo who are now being hotly tipped for the 2017 Man Booker Prize, as they are joined by Ali Smith, Mohsin Hamid and two debut novelists, Fiona Mozley and Emily Fridlund.

Missing from the list are Irish authors, Sebastian Barry with Days Without End and Mike McCormack with Solar Bones who were among the thirteen authors included on the longlist.

Announced this morning at Man Group, the prize's sponsor, the six shortlisted authors will receive a total of £2,500 and a specially bound edition of their book, before the winner is confirmed on October 17th in London and subsequently, rewarded £50,000.

With previous winners including Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie, the impact of the prize will provide an enormous boost to each author, as was the case with last year's winner Paul Beatty when he saw sales of his novel, The Sellout increase by 658%.

The 2017 Man Booker Prize Shortlist
4321 by Paul Auster (Faber & Faber)
History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (Hamish Hamilton)
Elmet by Fiona Mozley (JM Originals, John Murray)
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (Bloomsbury)
Autumn by Ali Smith (Hamish Hamilton)