The judging panel for the 2006 Man Booker Prize for Fiction is: Hermione Lee (Chair); Simon Armitage, poet and novelist; Candia McWilliam, award winning novelist; critic Anthony Quinn and actor Fiona Shaw.

The 2006 shortlist will be announced on Thursday 14th September at a press conference at Man Group’s London office. The winner will be announced on Tuesday 10th October at an awards ceremony at Guildhall, London.

The longlist for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2006 is as follows;

Carey, Peter Theft: A Love Story (Faber & Faber)
Desai, Kiran The Inheritance of Loss (Hamish Hamilton)
Edric, Robert Gathering the Water (Doubleday)
Gordimer, Nadine Get a Life (Bloomsbury)
Grenville, Kate The Secret River (Canongate)
Hyland, M.J. Carry Me Down (Canongate)
Jacobson, Howard Kalooki Nights (Jonathan Cape)
Lasdun, James Seven Lies (Jonathan Cape)
Lawson, Mary The Other Side of the Bridge (Chatto & Windus)
McGregor, Jon So Many Ways to Begin (Bloomsbury)
Matar, Hisham In the Country of Men (Viking)
Messud, Claire The Emperor’s Children (Picador)
Mitchell, David Black Swan Green (Sceptre)
Murr, Naeem The Perfect Man (William Heinemann)
O’Hagan, Andrew Be Near Me (Faber & Faber)
Robertson, James The Testament of Gideon Mack (Hamish Hamilton)
St Aubyn, Edward Mother’s Milk (Picador)
Unsworth, Barry The Ruby in her Navel (Hamish Hamilton)
Waters, Sarah The Night Watch (Virago)

Notes to Editors:

• The winner of the Man Booker Prize receives £50,000. The six shortlisted authors each receive a cheque for £2,500, bringing the total prize value to £65,000.
• The judges are available for interview. Please contact Colman Getty for more information, including images and biography.
• For a full history of the prize including previous winners, shortlisted authors and judges visit the website: www.themanbookerprize.com. The site features the rules of entry, background information and breaking news and is the quickest way for the prize’s worldwide audience to access information.
• The Sea by John Banville (Picador) won the Man Booker Prize in 2005. Sales of The Sea are now almost a quarter of a million and the publisher has reported a dramatic increase in Banville’s backlist sales. The paperback was published on 21 April 2006.
• Every year publishers are allowed to submit two books for the Man Booker Prize. Every former Booker Prize winner and any author who has appeared on the shortlist in the last ten years is also eligible. Rules of entry and submission forms for 2007 are now available to publishers. For more information contact Lois Tucker at Colman Getty at lois@colmangetty.co.uk or tel: 020 7631 2666.
• The Booker Prize for Fiction was originally set up by Booker plc in 1969 to reward merit, raise the stature of the author in the eyes of the public and encourage an interest in contemporary quality fiction. In April 2002, it was announced that Man Group plc had been chosen by the Booker Prize Foundation as the new sponsor of the Booker Prize. This sponsorship has now been extended for a further five years. During the sponsorship the prize will be known as the Man Booker Prize.
• The Advisory Committee, which advises on any changes to the rules and on the selection of the judges, represents all sides of the book world. Its members are: Ion Trewin (Man Booker Prize administrator); Richard Cable, publisher; Mark Chilton, Booker plc; Victoria Glendinning, writer; Mark Harrison, Creative Director, Arts, BBC TV; James Heneage, bookseller; Grace Kempster, librarian; Harvey McGrath, Chairman, Man Group plc; Fiammetta Rocco (Man Booker Prize International administrator); Deborah Rogers, literary agent; and Erica Wagner, literary editor, The Times.
• The trustees of the Booker Prize Foundation are former Chairman of Booker plc, Jonathan Taylor CBE (Chairman); Lord Baker of Dorking CH; Martyn Goff CBE, former Man Booker Prize administrator; playwright and President of the Royal Literary Fund, Ronald Harwood CBE; former Chair of the British Council, Baroness Kennedy QC; writer, Baroness Neuberger DBE; MEP Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne; and former Finance Director of Rentokil plc, Christopher Pearce.
• Man Group plc is a leading global provider of alternative investment products and solutions as well as one of the world's largest futures brokers. The Group employs over 4,000 people in 16 countries, with key centres in London, Pfäffikon (Switzerland), Chicago and New York. Man Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EMG.L) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Man Investments, the Asset Management division, is a global leader in the fast growing alternative investments industry. It provides access for private and institutional investors worldwide to hedge fund and other alternative investment strategies through a range of products and solutions designed to deliver absolute returns with a low correlation to equity and bond market benchmarks. Man Financial, the Brokerage division, is one of the world's leading providers of brokerage services. It acts as a broker of futures, options and other equity derivatives for both institutional and private clients, and as an intermediary in the world's metals, energy and foreign exchange markets with offices in key financial centres. www.mangroupplc.com
• Booker is part of the Baugur Group of companies. Booker is the UK's leading food wholesaler with over 170 branches nationwide. It serves over 350,000 independent businesses.
• The Booker Prize Archive was given on loan in 2003 to Oxford Brookes University where it is in the process of being catalogued.

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