Odds for the Man Booker International Prize

The fellows at the Complete Review have attempted to figure out the odds for the first Man Booker International Prize (not to be confused with the Man Booker Prize, discussed in the previous post). The Man Booker International Prize seeks to differentiate itself from the regular Booker thus:

The Man Booker Prize represents the very best in contemporary fiction, and is awarded each year for a novel published in the previous twelve months. From 1969 until the present day the prize continues to be the pinnacle of ambition for every fiction writer and is one of the world's most prestigious awards.

Over the years the Man Booker Prize has shortlisted authors from all corners of the Commonwealth – from Africa to Australasia, the Americas to India – whose writing reflects the diversity and richness of their cultural background.

The Man Booker International Prize will complement the annual prize by recognising one writer's achievement in literature and their significant influence on writers and readers worldwide.

Eighteen authors were eventually shortlisted for the first International Prize -- it was originally announced that fifteen authors would be on the list, but I guess the judges found it too hard to whittle their list down. It should be remembered that the list is comprised of authors, not works, and the prize is to be given to an author only once ever -- like the Nobel, it is for a body of work, rather than a particular piece. The following authors made the cut:

Margaret Atwood
Saul Bellow
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Gunter Grass
Ismail Kadare
Milan Kundera
Stanislaw Lem
Doris Lessing
Ian McEwan
Naguib Mahfouz
Tomas Eloy Martinez
Kenzaburo Oe
Cynthia Ozick
Philip Roth
Muriel Spark
Antonio Tabucchi
John Updike
A.B. Yehoshua

Without doubt, there are some incredible authors on the list. Of them all, I would have to single out Milan Kundera, Philip Roth and Ian McEwan as personal favourites. The Complete Review has provided their own guide, Handicapping the Field: A Punter's Guide. Their picks for the front runners (I will list only the authors who they give odds of 15:1 or better):

Saul Bellow - 5:1
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - 5:1
Margaret Atwood - 10:1
Philip Roth - 11:1
A.B. Yehoshua - 12:1
Naguib Mahfouz - 14:1
Milan Kundera - 14:1

After giving their odds, the Complete Review-ers back up their pronouncements with an excellent "Why they will/won't win" section. If you have any interest in the prize, or the state of contemporary fiction in general, I highly recommend you check it out.