/ 11 August 2005

Rushdie Booker novel may cause fresh controversy

Salman Rushdie’s novel Shalimar the Clown, about a Kashmiri boy who becomes an Islamic terrorist, has made the 2005 longlist for the prestigious Booker Prize.

The yet-to-be-released book was named on Wednesday alongside 16 others in the running for the annual Man Booker Prize for Fiction.

The prize is awarded every October for the best work of fiction by a British, Irish or Commonwealth author.

Rushdie’s fellow previous winners on the longlist are Kazuo Ishiguro for Never Let Me Go, Ian McEwan for Saturday and JM Coetzee for Slow Man.

Shalimar the Clown details how a radical mullah transforms a teenage Muslim boy into an Islamic terrorist.

The book could cause fresh controversy for Rushdie.

Former Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or religious edict, on Rushdie in 1989, calling for his execution because of alleged apostasy and blasphemy in his novel The Satanic Verses.

Three debut novels are also in the running: This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson, The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw and A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka.

The prize winner receives £50 000 and five other shortlisted authors get £2 500 plus an almost guaranteed worldwide readership and an upsurge in book sales.

”This has been an exceptional year, and in the judges’ opinion may rank as one of the strongest ever since the prize was founded in 1969,” said judges’ chairperson John Sutherland.

”It is also a nicely balanced longlist with four previous Booker winners, three first novels and a satisfying range of styles. The judges have enjoyed their judging experience enormously — so far.”

The shortlist will be revealed on September 8 and the winner announced on October 10.

Alan Hollinghurst won last year with The Line of Beauty.

Booker Prize longlist:

Tash Aw — The Harmony Silk Factory

John Banville — The Sea

Julian Barnes — Arthur and George

Sebastian Barry — A Long Long Way

JM Coetzee — Slow Man

Rachel Cusk — In the Fold

Kazuo Ishiguro — Never Let Me Go

Dan Jacobson — All for Love

Marina Lewycka — A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

Hilary Mantel — Beyond Black

Ian McEwan — Saturday

James Meek — The People’s Act of Love

Salman Rushdie — Shalimar the Clown

Ali Smith — The Accidental

Zadie Smith — On Beauty

Harry Thompson — This Thing of Darkness

William Wall — This Is the Country

— AFP