In First, Americans Are Nominated for Booker Prize

Karen Joy Fowler and Joshua Ferris are among five Americans who have made it onto the longlist of the Man Booker Prize, which for the first time is open to writers from beyond Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth.

The longlist, which also has six books written by Britons, was announced on Wednesday by the administrators of the prize. The other Americans nominated are Siri Hustvedt, Richard Powers and Joseph O'Neill, an Irish-born writer now living in New York.