LONDON, Sept 24, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Three authors writing about love and loss 
have made the Booker Prize shortlist for the first time, among the six chosen 
as contenders for this year's prestigious award.

The works explore "the ties that bind families together -- and the moments of 
crisis that can pull them apart," the prize organisers said late Tuesday.

The shortlist features "both classical storytelling and novels that push the 
boundaries of narrative form", they added.

"They are all brilliantly written and they are all brilliantly human," said 
the chair of the jury, Irish writer Roddy Doyle, who won the prize in 1993 
with "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha".

Three women and three men are in the running for the title, chosen out of a 
longlist of 13 authors, which had already been whittled down from 153 
entries.

Among them is American writer Susan Choi who makes her debut on the shortlist 
with "Flashlight", which follows 10-year old Louisa and her family in the 
aftermath of her father's disappearance.

Other newcomers to the list are American journalist and art critic Katie 
Kitamura with her book "Audition", about an actress whose life is turned 
upside down after she meets a troubling man for lunch.

"The Rest Of Our Lives" by first-time shortlisted author Ben Markovits 
tackles the issues around older people and the challenges of long-term 
marriage.

Indian writer Kiran Desai, a previous Booker Prize winner, spent two decades 
writing her epic "The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny", which at 700 pages is 
the longest entry on the shortlist.

It is described as "a spellbinding story of two young people whose fates 
intersect and diverge across continents and years".

Desai won the 2006 Booker Prize with her last novel "The Inheritance of 
Loss".

British-Hungarian author David Szalay's "Flesh", about a Hungarian man's rise 
from teenage criminality to high society, and British writer Andrew Miller's 
"The Land in Winter", about two couples whose lives intersect, complete the 
shortlist. Both authors are previous Booker nominees.

One of the judges, US actress Sarah Jessica Parker, said it had been a "real 
agony" to pare the list down to just six.

The Booker is open to works of fiction by writers of any nationality, written 
in English and published in the UK or Ireland between October 1, 2024 and 
September 30, 2025.

The prize ceremony will take place on November 10. Each of the shortlisted 
authors will receive o2,500, and the winner will get o50,000.

Last year's winner was Samantha Harvey with her outer space-inspired 
"Orbital", which at 136 pages was the second-shortest book ever to win the 
prize.

Other previous winners include Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood and Arundhati 
Roy.