UR Ananthamurthy in race for Man Booker International prize

Jaipur, Jan 24: Bangalore-based UR Ananthamurthy has been short listed for the Man Booker International Prize for fiction.

The award, an offshoot of Britain's better-known Man Booker

-of-the-year prize, is awarded for a lifetime's work. It is open to authors of all nationalities whose work is available in English.

Finalists announced Thursday at the Jaipur Literary Festival are: Aharon Appelfeld (Israel), Lydia Davis (USA), Intizar Husain (Pakistan), Yan Lianke (China), Marie NDiaye (France), Josip Novakovich (Canada), Marilynne Robinson (USA), Vladimir Sorokin (Russia) and Peter Stamm (Switzerland).

Previous winners of the 60,000-pound ($95,000) award include Canada's Alice Munro, Nigeria's Chinua Achebe and Philip Roth of the United States.

This year's winner will be announced in London on May 22 by five judges: Christopher Ricks, Elif Batuman, Aminatta Forna, Yiyun Li and Tim Parks.

Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthamurthy is one of the pioneers of the Navya movement in the Kannada language.

The popular movement to change the name of Bangalore to Bengaluru was started by Ananthamurthy. Born in Melige village in Tirthahalli in Shimoga district of Karnataka on Dec 21, 1932, Ananthamurthy's novel 'Samskara' boldly tackled gender politics.

He is a recipient of the Jnanpith Award and began his professional life as professor in Mysore University. His novels include Bhava, Bharathi Pura, and Avasthe and focus on everyday life's changes and confronting challenges.

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