Indian writer on Man Booker International Prize judging panel

London, Mar 19 (UNI) Kolkata-born academic and musician Amit Chaudhuri has become the first Indian to be included in the panel of judges of the prestigious Man Booker International Prize 2009.

Chaired by writer Jane Smiley, the international panel also includes Leningrad-born film script writer and essayist Andrey Kurkov.

''Each of our three judges is expert on a vastly different area of world literature. Knowledgeable as writers as well as readers, they will together bring a high degree of excellence, enthusiasm and experience to the task ahead,'' administrator of the Prize Fiammetta Rocco said.

Chaudhuri, 46, is currently a Professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia. He has taught at Cambridge University, Columbia University and Free University, Berlin earlier.

He has won several prizes for his fiction, including the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the Betty Trask award, the Encore Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, and the Sahitya Akademi award.

The Man Booker International Prize, in contrast with the annual Man Booker Prize for Fiction, recognises one writer for their achievement in fiction. The award is given once every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language. The selection of the winner at the discretion of the judging panel. There are no submissions from publishers.

The judges' list of contenders, approximately fifteen writers, under serious consideration for the Man Booker International Prize 2009 will be announced in early spring 2009 and the winner will be announced in early summer same year.

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