IMPAC shortlist 2007

From Guardian Unlimited

This year's IMPAC 138-strong long list has been pared to a shortlist of eight - all men.

Julian Barnes (Arthur and George), Sebastian Barry (A Long Long Way), JM Coetzee (Slow Man), Jonathan Safran Foer (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close), Peter Hobbs (The Short Day Dying), Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men), Per Petterson (Out Stealing Horses), Salman Rushdie (Shalimar the Clown) are still in the running for the prize which, at €100,000 (£68,000), is the world's richest. Interestingly, Per Peterson is the only writer whose work is not originally in English.

Nadine Gordimer, Margaret Atwood, Ali Smith, Zadie Smith, Kazuo Ishiguro, John Banville, Ian McEwan and Haruki Murakami are amongst those who did not get past the first stage.

This year's panel of judges includes writers Hanan al-Shaykh and Almeda Faria, poet Gerlad Dawe and critic Carmen Callil. The chair of judges is Eugene Sullivan, a former US court of appeals chief judge. The winner will be announced on June 14 2007.

Last year's winner was The Master by Colm Toibin; previouswinners include Orhan Pamuk (My Name is Red), Tahar Ben Jelloun (ThisBlinding Absence of Light) and Michel Houellebecq (Atomised).