Irish authors miss out on Booker Prize shortlist

Irish authors have missed out on a place in the shortlist for this year's Man Booker Prize.

Colm Toibin, William Trevor and Ed O'Loughlin were all on the long-list of nominations for the prestigious prize.

However, none of their novels made it on to the six-strong shortlist announced this morning.

Hilary Mantel is favourite to win the £50,000 prize for 'Wolf Hall', a historical novel about Henry VIII's adviser Thomas Cromwell.

The other nominees are JM Coetzee (Summertime), Sarah Waters (The Little Stranger), Simon Mawer (The Glass Room), Adam Foulds (The Quickening Maze) and AS Byatt (The Children's Book).