The shortlist for the 2013 Man Booker Prize was announced on Tuesday morning at a press conference.
The list included six authors, including two-time Booker nominee Colm Toibin, Reuters reports.
The Irish writer was nominated for The Testament of Mary, about the mother of Jesus. He was previously nominated for The Blackwater Lightship and The Master.
Other writers nominated include New Zealander Eleanor Catton, English writer Jim Crace, Zimbabwean NoViolet Bulawayo, Canadian Ruth Ozeki and Indian/American Jhumpa Lahiri.
Judging panel chair Robert MacFarlane said, "Global in its reach, this exceptional shortlist demonstrates the vitality and range of the contemporary novel at its finest."
In addition to the shortlist's nationalities, so to are their lives. Ozeki is a Buddhist priest, Bulawayo is the first Zimbabwean writer and Lahiri is on the U.S. Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
Macfarlane added, "These novels are all about the strange ways in which people are brought together and the painful ways in which they are held apart," BBC News notes.
The features Catton who will is the youngest ever to be named to the shortlist at 27 years old for The Luminaries, which is a Victorian New Zealand ghost tale.
Crace, 67 years old, is the oldest author of the list and was previously nominated for Quarantine.
Reuters notes that the winner receives a $78,600 prize, which will be announced Oct. 15.
The shortlist:
Jim Crace - Harvest
Eleanor Catton - The Luminaries
NoViolet Bulaway - We Need New Names
Jhumpa Lahiri - The Lowland
Ruth Ozeki - A Tale for the Time Being
Colm Toibin - The Testament of Mary