'Guess the Booker winner contest' in capital

New Delhi, Sep 27 (UNI) With Indian-born author Kiran Desai making to the short list, Booker mania has gripped the capital.

British Council Library has opened its annual 'Guess the Man Booker Prize Winner Contest' offering the complete shortlist of six titles to the winner.

'The Inheritance of Loss', the second novel of Desai, daughter of author Anita Desai, is one of the six titles vying for the top honours.

The other contenders are Kate Grenville for 'The Secret River', M J Hyland for 'Carry Me Down', Hisham Matar for 'In the Country of Men', Edward St Aubyn for 'Mother's Milk' and Sarah Waters for 'The Night Watch'.

The British Council contest is open to library members, who could drop their entries at a special Booker Prize stall in the premises. The last date for receiving the entries is October 9.

The Booker Prize will be announced on October 10.

British Council's head of customer service, Mike Welch, will pick up the winner at a draw of lots on October 14.

''There is a lot of interest in the contest this year,'' says Neeti Saxena, Head of Library and Information Sciences of BCL in North India. The BCL, which had received about 400 entries last year, is expecting about 500 this time. All the shortlisted and longlisted titles are on display at the library, which will open them to the readers once the prize is announced.

'The Inheritance of Loss', which is about a judge who wants to lead a peaceful retired life at the foothills of the Kanchenjunga in the middle of insurgency and romance of his grand-daughter, is the second novel of Desai after 'Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard'.

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