Ms Levy is the only one among them who has previously been shortlisted for the Man Booker prize , for her novel Swimming Home in 2012, which was also shortlisted for the Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize. She has written five previous novels, as well as short stories and over 20 plays. Hot Milk follows a woman and her daughter, examining the mother-daughter bond and the nature of motherhood, against the backdrop of the search for a cure for a mysterious paralysis.
All That Man Is traces the story of nine different men to understand what it means to be alive. Szalazy is a British and Canadian author, named as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists in 2013.
The shortlisted books cover a diverse range of subjects, from murder in 19th century Scotland to classical music in Revolutionary China.
Chair of judges, Dr Amanda Foreman, said: “As a group we were excited by the willingness of so many authors to take risks with language and form. The final six reflect the centrality of the novel in modern culture – in its ability to champion the unconventional, to explore the unfamiliar, and to tackle difficult subjects.”
The Man Booker Prize can be awarded to any novel originally written in English and published in the UK in the year of the prize. This is the third year that the prize has been available to authors of any nationality and the nominees come from the UK, US and Canada.
The winner will be announced on Tuesday 25 October in London’s Guildhall in a ceremony broadcast by the BBC.
