Man Booker Prize longlist announced

This year marks only the second time that the Man Booker International Prize has been open to writers of any nationality, but the United States appears to making its mark.

Five writers from the U.S. and one from Jamaica made the longlist for the prestigious literary honor, which was once only open to authors from the UK & Commonwealth, Ireland and Zimbabwe. Winning the prize can be quite a sales boost: Last year’s winner, Australian novelist Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North, has sold 300,000 copies in the UK and almost 800,000 worldwide, according to http://www.themanbookerprize.com/.

The shortlist of six books will be announced Sept. 15, with the winner announced Oct. 13.

Here’s the longlist:

Bill Clegg (U.S.), Did You Ever Have a Family

Anne Enright (Ireland), The Green Road

Marlon James (Jamaica), A Brief History of Seven Killings

Laila Lalami (U.S.), The Moor’s Account

Tom McCarthy (UK), Satin Island

Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria), The Fishermen

Andrew O’Hagan (UK), The Illuminations

Marilynne Robinson (U.S.), Lila

Anuradha Roy (India), Sleeping on Jupiter

Sunjeev Sahota (UK), The Year of the Runaways

Anna Smaill (New Zealand), The Chimes

Anne Tyler (U.S.), A Spool of Blue Thread

Hanya Yanagihara (U.S.), A Little Life

This story was originally published July 29, 2015 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Man Booker Prize longlist announced."