Man Booker Prize: 2 Canadians In Running For Coveted International Award

Two Canadian authors are in the running for the 2011 Man Booker Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious prizes for a work of fiction.

Esi Edugyan of Victoria is nominated for her second novel, Half Blood Blues, while Patrick deWitt of Vancouver Island made the list for The Sisters Brothers.

There are six finalists for the £50,000 prize, among them veteran British author and previous nominee Julian Barnes.

The full list:

* The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes.
* Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch.
* The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt.
* Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan.
* Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman.
* Snowdrops by A.D. Miller.

DeWitt, who now lives in the U.S., writes about two cowboy assassins tasked with tracking down a gold prospector with a secret in The Sisters Brothers.

Edugyan, born in Calgary and a writing teacher at the University of Victoria, tells the story of a brilliant jazz musician who faces racial barriers in 1940s Paris in Half Blood Blues.

The winner will be named Oct. 18 in London.