The Lives of Others written by Neel Mukherjee shortlisted for Man Booker Prize 2014

The Lives of Others: Neel Mukherjee

The Lives of Others authored by Neel Mukherjee was shortlisted for Man Booker Prize 2014 in the fourth week of July 2014. Neel Mukherjee is a Kolkata-born British Indian writer and this is his second novel.

The novel is set in 1960s Bengal and revolves around a man's extremist political activism during troubled times. The Novel is published by Granta which has so far sold 300000 copies in the United Kingdom and almost 500000 copies worldwide.

His first novel was Past Continuous which was joint winner of the Vodafone-Crossword Award, India's premier literary award for writing in English for best novel of 2008.

In 2013 another book set in Kolkata, The Lowland written by Jhumpa Lahiri was, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013. But it lost to The Luminaries written by Eleanor Catton of New Zealand. The Lowland is a story of a young man's tryst with the Naxalite movement at the cost of his family.

Other Books shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2014

• We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves: Karen Joy Fowler
• To Rise Again at a Decent Hour: Joshua Ferris
• The Narrow Road to the Deep North: Richard Flanagan
• History of the Rain: Niall Williams
• The Blazing World: Siri Hustvedt
• Orfeo: Richard Powers
• The Dog: Joseph O'Neill
• J: Howard Jacobson
• The Wake: Paul Kingsnorth
• The Bone Clocks: David Mitchell
• Us: David Nicholls
• How to be Both: Ali Smith

Some Interesting Facts about Man Booker Prize

• For the first time since 1969 (when the award was first given), the 50000 pound prize in 2014 has been opened up to writers of any nationality, writing originally in English and published in the UK. Previously, the prize was open to authors from the UK and the Commonwealth, Republic of Ireland and Zimbabwe.
• Catton became the youngest writer to ever win a Man Booker prize in 2013. Her book The Luminaries with 832-page is also the longest novel to ever win the coveted literary prize.
• The youngest ever winner before Catton was Ben Okri who was 32 when his work The Famished Road won the Booker prize in 1991.

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