Overview

• The six finalists are Flashlight (Susan Choi), The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny (Kiran Desai), Audition (Katie Kitamura), The Rest of Our Lives (Ben Markovits), The Land in Winter (Andrew Miller) and Flesh (David Szalay).
• All the nominees are established authors with no debuts, reflecting a veteran-heavy list drawn from 153 submissions.
• Desai, a 2006 Booker winner, is shortlisted for her first novel in nearly two decades, a nearly 700‑page work widely tipped by outlets as a leading contender.
• The judging panel, chaired by Roddy Doyle with Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, Sarah Jessica Parker, Chris Power and Kiley Reid, settled on the shortlist after a meeting of about four hours.
• Judges will reread the six books before naming the winner in November at a London ceremony, where the prize carries £50,000 for the winner and £2,500 for each shortlisted author.