The Man Booker Dozen has been whittled down to an official short list of six, and there are a few shocks and surprises to be had among the final nominees.

Though Britain’s most prestigious literary award, just two novelists from the Man Booker homeland, Tom McCarthy and Sunjeev Sahota, have made the final six.

Literary critics have also been surprised to learn that established American author Marilynne Robinson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Orange prize and a National Humanities Medal bestowed by Barack Obama, is out of the running.

Announcing the shortlist in London today, chair judge Michael Wood said he was ‘delighted’ with the diversity of this year’s shortlist.

“We re-read all 13 books on the longlist and in the process we rediscovered new pleasures in each.”

“The writers on the shortlist present an extraordinary range of approaches to fiction. They come from very different cultures and are themselves at very different stages of their careers.”

Among the successful six are Marlon James with A Brief History of Seven Killings, the first Jamaican-born author to be ever shortlisted, Tom McCarthy with Satin Island, the only author on the list to have been nominated in previous years, plus Nigeria’s Chigozie Obioma with The Fishermen, who at 28 is the youngest author in the final stages.

Each author on the shortlist will receive £2,500 and a specially bound edition of their book, while the overall winner will be announced at a ceremony in London on 13 October, where they'll win the grand prize of £50,000.

In the meantime, take a look at the shortlisted six below…

The Man Booker Prize shortlist is here