Turkey's Pamuk on shortlist for Man Booker Intl prize

Turkish Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk is among the nominees announced for this year’s Man Booker International literary prize.

It is the first time an author from Turkey has been nominated for the British-based award, which recognizes international writers whose work is originally in English or has been translated from their native language and published in the UK.

The £50,000 ($71,000) prize for the winner, to be announced on May 16, will be divided equally between the author and translator.

Pamuk is nominated for his 2014 novel A Strangeness in My Mind, which was translated by 27-year-old Turkish-born Londoner Ekin Oklap.

Five other authors are nominated for this year’s Man Booker International Prize, including A General Theory of Oblivion by Angolan author Jose Eduardo Agualusa, Austrian Robert Seethaler's A Whole Life, and South Korean writer Han Kang's The Vegetarian – all representing countries nominated for the first time.

China’s Yan Lianke, who wrote The Four Books, and Italian Elena Ferrante’s The Story of the Lost Child make up the remaining nominees.

Boyd Tonkin, chairman of the judging panel, said: “This exhilarating shortlist will take readers both around the globe and to every frontier of fiction. In first-class translations that showcase that unique and precious art, these six books tell unforgettable stories from China and Angola, Austria and Turkey, Italy and South Korea.

“In setting, they range from a Mao-era re-education camp and a remote Alpine valley to the modern tumult and transformation of cities such as Naples and Istanbul.

“Our selection shows that the finest books in translation extend the boundaries not just of our world - but of the art of fiction itself.”

The international award complements the annual Man Booker Prize, given to the best original English-language novel.