Booker Prize shortlist eschews big names

Controversial nominations prove less is more

by Ian Westlake

Little-known authors Jo Wark, Tom Pitt and Singapore-born Pnin Ng are among the seven authors to make this year's Booker Prize shortlist. In a move likely to alienate a large number of big name writers the selection panel has chosen novels written by people with fewer than seven letters in their names.

"It was not a deliberate choice to exclude the bigger literary names," said Mo Bull, chair of the judges. "It just came out that way."

There was an immediate hostile reaction to the announcement from historian Simon Sebag-Montefiore, who called the omission "untenably mononymically biased".

The furore will be welcomed by the bookmakers, who are making British debutant M.C. O a 6/1 early favourite with his semi-autobiographical novel "I'm-a Pop A Cap In Yo Ass, Muthafu*kah: My Year in Hip-Hop".

The Booker Prize has courted controversy in the past, notably in 2002 when the longlist consisted solely of serving lesbian Nigerian Army officers above the rank of lieutenant with double-barrelled names. The winner was Captain Chinua Achebe-Wilkinson with "A Thick Shell: My Year in Oilfield Protection".

That shortlist in full:

Pnin Ng — The Odour Eaters
M.C. O — I'm-a Pop A Cap In Yo Ass, Muthafu*kah: My Year in Hip-Hop
Art Nye — The Unnecessity of Being
Sam Dutt — Rock Hard Salad Tomato
Tom Pitt — The Hairdresser's Remedy
Kit Head — Stuff It: My Year in Taxidermy
Jo Wark — A Small Fragile Thing

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Booker Prize shortlist eschews big names

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