The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng, one of my favoutie reads in 2012, is on the shortlist for the Man Asian literary prize which was announced this week. So too is Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil, a former addict who recreated the squalid yet intimate world of a small opium den in Mumbai in the 1970s. Both authors were shortlisted for the main Man Booker prize and their books were reviewed on this site in August 2012.
Despite the quality of both books, they are up against some formidable opposition particularly Silent House written by Turkish Mobel laureate Orphan Pamuk however, Clay and Dust by Pakistan’s Musharraf Ali Farooqu and The Briefcase by Hiromi Kawakami from Japan are both considered serious possibilities.
The winner will be announced on 14th March. This is the last year the Man Group is sponsoring the award. Although a replacement has not yet been announced the organisers say that there have been approached by “several Asian-based and global corporations” about sponsoring the prize.
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