Two Irish authors make Booker prize shortlist

IRISH authors John Banville and Sebastian Barry have been shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker prize for fiction, it was announced yesterday.

The prize, which is worth €74,000 to the winner, as well as a massive surge in sales, included three Irish authors when the long list was announced in August. But Cork novelist William Wall failed to make the shortlist of six for his work This is the Country.

It is Banville’s second time being shortlisted, with his 1989 novel The Book of Evidence previously making the last six. Sebastian Barry has never been nominated for the Booker before.