Ian McEwan leads race for 2007 Booker Prize

Celebrated novelist Ian McEwan is among the six writers shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, one of the world's most prestigious literary honours.

Past winner McEwan, nominated this year for his novel On Chesil Beach, had been tipped as the favourite by British bookmakers leading up to Thursday's announcement from London.

Also shortlisted are:

• Darkmans by Nicola Barker.
• The Gathering by Anne Enright.
• The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid.
• Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones.
• Animal's People by Indra Sinha.

Jury chair Howard Davies acknowledged that this year's longlist provided a tough challenge for the judges, who had to pare the 13 semifinalists down to six finalists.

"We hope the choices we have made after passionate and careful considerationwill attract wide interest," Davies said.

Davies, the director of the London School of Economics and Political Science, is joined on the jury this year by poet Wendy Cope, journalist and author Giles Foden, critic and biographer Ruth Scurr and actor-writer Imogen Stubbs.

Canadian poet, playwright, novelist and Brick magazine co-editor Michael Redhill failed to reach the Booker short list after being longlisted for his novel Consolation. On Wednesday, Redhill's book was named the 2007 winner of the Toronto Book Awards.

The Booker prize, worth £50,000 (about $106,000 Cdn), is awarded each year to the best novel by an author from the U.K., Ireland or the Commonwealth.

The winner will be announced at a gala in London on Oct. 16.