Irish authors John Banville, Sebastian Barry and William Wall have been named on the longlist for this year's Man booker Prize for Fiction.
The list which was announced today also featured Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, Zadie Smith, Julian Barnes and JM Coetzee.
Four former Booker winners and three first-time novelists are among the 17 authors vying for the literary world's most prestigious award.
The judges describe this year's crop of books as "exceptional" and said the longlist was one of the strongest in the history of the prize. "This ... in the judges' opinion may rank as one of the strongest ever since the prize was founded in 1969," Chair of judges John Sutherland said in a statement. The winner will receive £50,000 pounds and a guaranteed increase in sales.
Banville was named for his novel The Sea,Barry for A Long Long Way, and Wall for This Is The Country.
Rushdie - who won the "Booker of Bookers" for Midnight's Childrenin 1993 - has been longlisted for his forthcoming work Shalimar the Clown, which is published next month.
Set in the disputed state of Kashmir, the tale of love and revenge is sure to cause fresh controversy for the author of The Satanic Verses.
The three debut novels are A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainianby Marina Lewycka, The Harmony Silk Factoryby Tash Aw and This Thing of Darknessby Harry Thompson.
Barnes was named in the longlist for his 19th century novel Arthur & Georgeand installed as 4-1 favourites to take the title while McEwan was selected for Saturdayand named as the 3-1 favourite by another leading bookmaker.
Coetzee, who won the award in 1983 and 1999, was longlisted for Slow Man.McEwan won the Booker prize in 1998 with Amsterdamand Kazuo Ishiguro was the other previous winner, with The Remains of the Dayin 1989. He was nominated for the 2005 prize with Never Let Me Go.
The Booker was launched in 1969 and rewards the best novel of the last 12 months written by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland.
LONG LIST:Tash Aw - The Harmony Silk Factory
John Banville - The Sea
Sebastian Barry - A Long Long Way
Julian Barnes - Arthur & George
JM Coetzee - Slow Man
Rachel Cusk - In the Fold
Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go
Dan Jacobson - All For Love
Marina Lewycka - A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
Hilary Mantel - Beyond Black
Ian McEwan - Saturday
James Meek - The People's Act of Love
Salman Rushdie - Shalimar the Clown
Ali Smith - The Accidental
Zadie Smith - On Beauty
Harry Thompson - This Thing of Darkness
William Wall - This Is The Country