Indian author makes Booker short-list

The much-awaited shortlist for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2006, arguably the UK's biggest literary award, has been released.

The six short-listed books chosen from a long-list of 19 and are: Kiran Desai, for The Inheritance of Loss; Kate Grenville for The Secret River; M J Hyland for Carry Me Down; Hisham Matar for In the Country of Men; Edward St Aubyn for Mother's Milk; and Sarah Waters for The Night Watch.

Born in India in 1971, Kiran Desai was educated in India, England and America. She is the daughter of writer Anita Desai, who herself was short-listed for the Booker Prize three times. Kiran's first novel, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard (1998) went on to win a Betty Trask Award.

Her nominated novel, The Inheritance of Loss, is set in an isolated and crumbling house in the northeastern Himalayas, at the foot of Mount Kanchenjunga. It focuses on the lives of a bitter old judge, his orphaned granddaughter, chatty cook and a young man called Gyan who is brought in as a tutor.

Apart from the prize money of £50,000, the winner is guaranteed an increase in sales and recognition worldwide. The six short-listed authors each receive a cheque for £2,500, bringing the total prize value to £65,000. The winner will be announced on October 10 at an awards ceremony at the Guildhall, London.