[Excerpts from the BBC news site, posted on the Amis Discussion Board 15 August 2003]
Amis and Atwood lead Booker list
Heavyweight authors Martin Amis and Margaret Atwood are leading the 23-strong long list for this year's prestigious Booker prize. They have been shortlisted for their respective books Yellow Dog and Oryx and Crake.
Big-name authors such as JM Coetzee, for Elizabeth Costello, and Graham Swift, for The Light of Day, have also been selected, despite speculation that they would miss out.
But the longlist also includes rising stars such as Monica Ali, whose debut novel Brick Lane about life in East London has been widely praised.
Last year Yann Martel won the prize for his novel The Life of Pi.
A shortlist for the 2003 prize will be announced on 16 September.
The winner will be announced at a ceremony in London on 14 October.
The longlist of 23 books were chosen from 117 entries.
Chair of judges, Professor John Carey, said: "This is a strong and diverse longlist, with a pleasing component of new names.
"It reflects the passionate preferences of the individual judges, and it will be very tough reducing it to a shortlist."
