The shortlist was chosen from a long list of 13 books and comprises: 'The White Tiger' by Aravind Adiga; 'The Secret Scripture' by Sebastian Barry; 'Sea of Poppies' by Amitav Ghosh; 'The Clothes on Their Backs' by Linda Grant; 'The Northern Clemency' by Philip Hensher; and 'A Fraction of the Whole' by Steve Toltz.
For the first time Man Booker Prize has partnered with mobile site GoSpoken to make extracts from the six shortlisted books available to download free onto mobile phones.
The extracts are available by texting MBP to 60300 and can either be read as text or listened to as audio.
The shortlist includes two first time novelists, Aravind Adiga and Steve Toltz, and represents a broad geographical spread with two Indian authors, two English authors, an Australian author and an Irish author.
Michael Portillo, chair of judges and former MP, said: "These novels are intensely readable, each of them an extraordinary example of imagination and narrative. These fine page-turning stories nonetheless raise highly thought-provoking ideas and issues."
The winner of the prize receives £50,000 and each of the shortlisted authors, including the winner, receives £2,500 and a designer bound edition of their own book.
The judging panel comprises: Michael Portillo; Alex Clark, editor of Granta; Louise Doughty, novelist; James Heneage, founder of Ottaker's bookshops; and Hardeep Singh Kohli, TV and radio broadcaster.
The winner will be announced on October 14 at a dinner at the Guildhall, London and will be broadcast live on BBC One's 'Ten O'Clock News'.
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