So … who’s it going to be?

Just a few hours until this year's Booker shortlist is announced - who do you think will make it through to the next round? Here on the arts desk, we're predicting Julian Barnes, Hilary Mantel, Ian McEwan (yes, really), James Meek and Salman Rushdie - with Kazuo Ishiguro, Zadie Smith and Coetzee as outside favourites. In fact, the Vulture has gone so far as to put her money where her mouth is, and stick a tenner on the Guardian's very own Meekie to win the thing - The People's Act of Love is a fantastic book. Plus, Ladbrokes has him at 12/1.

The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw

Introduction The Harmony Silk Factory is the name of the shophouse my father bought in 1942 as a front for his illegal businesses. To look at, the building is unremarkable. Built in the early thirties by itinerant Chinese coolies (of … Continue reading →

Booker covered in glory

Vanessa Thorpe reports on the battle of the jackets as prize contenders vie to catch the eye.

Booker longlist announced

Drum roll please: the 2005 Booker longlist in full. Already being hailed as one of the strongest lists in years, the roll call is seriously heavyweight heavy and includes four previous winners - Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie, Kazuo Ishiguro and 2003 Nobel prize winner JM Coetzee, who's actually picked up the Booker gong twice before.

Bound in tropes of silk

Alfred Hickling is maddened and charmed by Tash Aw's Malayan adventure, The Harmony Silk Factory.

Booker prize’s long-term fame lottery

Mixed results from a survey into how well previous Booker winners have sold demolishes the idea that the prize is either a perpetual crock of gold or a guarantee of literary immortality.

Surprise all round at Booker shortlist

In a turn of fortune which astonished the bookmakers as much as it did him, Gerard Woodward heard that he is on the shortlist for the £50,000 Man Booker fiction prize for his second novel, I'll Go to Bed at Noon.