Two Irish writers among favourites to win Booker Prize

Two Irish novelists are among the favourites to win this year's prestigious Booker Prize for fiction.

John Banville's 'The Sea' and Sebastian Barry's 'A Long, Long Way' were among the six novels shortlisted for the £50,000 (€74,000) prize yesterday.

Julian Barnes is favourite the win the award for 'Arthur and George', but Barry has been installed as second favourite and Banville is joint third favourite along with Kazuo Ishiguro's 'Never Let Me Go'.