Booker Prize: Irish author Kevin Barry on longlist

Kevin Barry is the only Irish author on this year's Booker Prize longlist

Irish author Kevin Barry has been longlisted for the Booker Prize for his book Night Boat to Tangier.

Mr Barry, who was born in Limerick and now lives in Sligo, is one of 13 authors on the list, including Salman Rushdie for the novel Quichotte.

The judges have described Night Boat to Tangier as a "rogue gem of a novel" and "a work of crime fiction not quite like any other".

It features two fading Irish gangsters discussing their past lives.

Last year's Booker Prize winner was Belfast author Anna Burns for the novel Milkman.

Previous Irish winners include Roddy Doyle for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, John Banville for The Sea and Anne Enright for The Gathering.

Mr Barry, 50, has won numerous awards for his work, including the Dublin International Literary Award, the Rooney Prize and the Goldsmith's Prize.

He is the only Irish author on this year's list.

The list will be whittled down to a shortlist of six on 3 September, with the winner to be announced on 14 October.

The winner will receive £50,000.

The longlist in full:

• Margaret Atwood - The Testaments

• Kevin Barry - Night Boat To Tangier

• Oyinkan Braithwaite - My Sister, The Serial Killer

• Lucy Ellmann - Ducks, Newburyport

• Bernardine Evaristo - Girl, Woman, Other

• John Lanchester - The Wall

• Deborah Levy - The Man Who Saw Everything

• Valeria Luiselli - Lost Children Archive

• Chigozie Obioma - An Orchestra Of Minorities

• Max Porter - Lanny

• Salman Rushdie - Quichotte

• Elif Shafak - 10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World

• Jeanette Winterson - Frankissstein