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Rushdie in running to win his second Booker of the year
Terry Kirby29 Jul 2008
Salman Rushdie, already winner of this year's Best of Booker Prize for Midnight's Children and shortlisted three times previously, is once again among those in line to win the literary award.
Rushdie's latest novel, The Enchantress Of Florence, features in the 13-strong longlist for the 2008 Man Booker Prize, announced today. Also on the longlist is From A To X, by John Berger, the 82-year-old Marxist art critic who first won the prize in 1972, with G.
Other authors named today who have also previously featured in Booker longlists include Sebastian Barry, with The Secret Scripture, and Linda Grant, with The Clothes On Their Backs. Rushdie's listing cements his position as the Bookers' favourite author. Midnight's Children won the award in 1981, was voted Booker of Bookers in 1993 and won this year's Best of Booker on a public vote.
Rushdie was shortlisted for Shame in 1983, The Satanic Verses in 1988 and The Moor's Last Sigh in 1995.
The Enchantress Of Florence is a historic fable set in Florence and India.
Michael Portillo, who is chairing this year's judging panel, said the list covered "an extraordinary variety of writing" and had been achieved with "a notable degree of consensus" among the five judges.
He said the judges were pleased with the geographical balance of the longlist with writers from Pakistan, India, Australia, Ireland and the UK and an interesting mix of books, which also includes five first novels.
This year's longlist was chosen from an initial 112 entries; the shortlist will be announced on 9 September and the winner on 14 October.
The other members of this year's panel are Alex Clark, editor of Granta; novelist Louise Doughty; James Heneage, founder of Ottakar's bookshops and Hardeep Singh Kohli, TV and radio broadcaster.
Last year's winner was The Gathering, by Anne Enright.
