A good literary prize brings to light books that you’ve not necessarily heard of before. This year’s  Man Booker Prize longlist is an eminent example, pulling together a selection of 13 books from all corners of the world: Jamaica, New Zealand, India, the US, Ireland, Nigeria and the UK.

The widening of the Man Booker Prize a few years ago to include all English language books (not only those written by Commonwealth writers) have taken the Man Booker Prize into new exciting territory with five of the books on the list coming from the US. I’ve been eyeing Bill Clegg’s Did You Ever Have a Family for a while and will get hold of that when it comes out in the UK in September. Laila Lalami’s The Moor’s Account, an account by a Moroccan slave of Spain’s attempt at reclaiming Florida also sounds interesting.

Here’s more on the longlisted books:

The Man Booker Prize in Pictures