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