Two Indians are among the 13 novelists in contention for this year’s Man Booker Prize after judges tore up nearly all predictions and disregarded virtually all star literary novelists.

Indian Nikita Lalwani’s first novel Gifted and Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People are among the 13-title list for the 50,000 pounds prize.

A six-strong shortlist will be unveiled next month and the winner will be announced in October.

Nikita Lalwani, 33, was born in Rajasthan and raised in Cardiff in the UK. After studying English at Bristol University, she worked for the BBC, directing factual television and documentaries. She lives in London with her husband and child.

Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People, published in March this year, is set in an Indian town called Kaufpur, a fictional place of terror and dread based on the city of Bhopal, which became famous after the Bhopal Gas tragedy.
The bookies installed Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach, as a 3-1 favourite to win this year’s prize.

UK’s bookstore Waterstone’s called this year’s longlist a giant-felling list.

Writers who failed to make the cut include Doris Lessing and past winners Thomas Kenneally, J M Coetzee and Graham Swift.