Man Booker judges reveal 'most diverse' longlist

Previous nominees Jim Crace and Colm Toibin have made the 13-strong longlist for this year's Man Booker prize.

Robert Macfarlane, chair of the judges, described it as "surely the most diverse longlist in Man Booker history".

The list includes authors from Britain, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Malaysia and Ireland.

The shortlist of six will be unveiled on 10 September, and the £50,000 prize winner on 15 October.

The longlist of authors and titles is Tash Aw (Five Star Billionaire), NoViolet Bulawayo (We Need New Names), Eleanor Catton (The Luminaries), Jim Crace (Harvest), Eve Harris (The Marrying of Chani Kaufman), Richard House (The Kills), Jhumpa Lahiri (The Lowland), Alison MacLeod (Unexploded), Colum McCann (TransAtlantic), Charlotte Mendelson (Almost English), Ruth Ozeki (A Tale for the Time Being), Donal Ryan (The Spinning Heart) and Colm Toibin (The Testament of Mary).

MAN BOOKER LONGLIST 2013 Tash Aw - Five Star Billionaire (Fourth Estate) NoViolet Bulawayo - We Need New Names (Chatto & Windus) Eleanor Catton - The Luminaries (Granta) Jim Crace - Harvest (Picador) Eve Harris - The Marrying of Chani Kaufman (Sandstone Press) Richard House - The Kills (Picador) Jhumpa Lahiri - The Lowland (Bloomsbury) Alison MacLeod - Unexploded (Hamish Hamilton) Colum McCann - TransAtlantic (Bloomsbury) Charlotte Mendelson - Almost English (Mantle) Ruth Ozeki - A Tale for the Time Being (Canongate) Donal Ryan - The Spinning Heart (Doubleday Ireland) Colm Toibin - The Testament of Mary (Viking)

Crace was previously shortlisted in 1997 for Quarantine, while Toibin has appeared twice before - for The Blackwater Lightship in 1999 and in 2004 with The Master.

At 67, Crace is the oldest author on the longlist, and 27-year-old Catton the youngest.

Seven of the 13 authors are women; and three - Bulawayo, Harris and Ryan - are debut authors.

"This is surely the most diverse longlist in Man Booker history: wonderfully various in terms of geography, form, length and subject," said writer and academic Macfarlane.

"These 13 outstanding novels range from the traditional to the experimental, from the first century AD to the present day, from 100 pages to 1,000 and from Shanghai to Hendon."

He told the BBC the judging process had been "peaceable but rigorous".

The longlist meeting on Monday lasted nearly six hours. "That speaks not of dissent but care taken," he said.

Macfarlane is joined on the 2013 judging panel by broadcaster Martha Kearney; biographer and critic Robert Douglas-Fairhurst; author, broadcaster and classicist Natalie Haynes, and writer and critic Stuart Kelly.

The longlist of 13 was selected from 151 titles and includes books from three independent publishers: Canongate, Granta and Sandstone Press.

This year marks the 45th year of the £50,000 book prize, launched in 1969.

The winner of the 2013 Man Booker Prize for Fiction will be announced on 15 October at an awards ceremony at London's Guildhall.

Hilary Mantel won the 2012 Booker Prize for Bring Up the Bodies, making her the first woman and first British author to win the prize twice.

She has since gone on to become the first Man Booker author to enter the official UK top 50 number one spot with the mass-market edition of Bring Up the Bodies.