Amitav Ghosh among top 10 finalists for Man Booker International Prize

Cape Town: Ten writers, including a first-time entry from the tiny French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, have been nominated as finalists for the 2015 Man Booker International prize for fiction writing. The coveted 60,000 pound prize is awarded 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.

"This is a most interesting and enlightening list of finalists. It brings attention to writers from far and wide, so many of whom are in translation," Jonathan Taylor, chair of the Booker Prize Foundation, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The finalists were announced at the University of Cape Town, where Nobel literature winner and two-time Booker winner JM Coetzee teaches. The 2015 Man Booker winner will be announced in London on 19 May.

This year's finalists are: César Aira (Argentina); Hoda Barakat (Lebanon); Maryse Condé (Guadeloupe); Mia Couto (Mozambique); Amitav Ghosh (India); Fanny Howe (United States of America); Ibrahim al-Koni (Libya); László Krasznahorkai (Hungary); Alain Mabanckou (Republic of Congo) and Marlene van Niekerk (South Africa).