Amitav Ghosh, 58, has been short listed for this year's Man Booker International Prize for his contribution to the English language writing.  The finalists for the prize were announced in Cape Town on Tuesday, with 10 authors from around the world contending for the $90,000 prize. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in London on May 19. The winner is chosen by a panel.

The international version of the popular literary prize is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language.

"This is a most interesting and enlightening list of finalists," said Jonathan Taylor, Chairman of the Booker Prize Foundation."For the first time authors included in the list are from 10 countries with six new nationalities," said Taylor.

The finalists are: Cesar Aira (Argentina), Hoda Barakat (Lebanon), Maryse Conde (Guadeloupe), Mia Couto (Mozambique), Amitav Ghosh (India), Fanny Howe (US),Ibrahim al-Koni (Libya), Leszlo Krasznahorkai (Hungary), Alain Mabanckou (Republic of Congo) and Marlene van Niekerk (South Africa).

"The judges have had an exhilarating experience reading for this prize we have ranged across the world and entered the vision of writers who offer an extraordinary variety of experiences," said Marina Warner, chair of the judging panel.  “The novel today is in fine form,” she said

Previous winners have been Lydia Davis (2013), Philip Roth (2011), Alice Munro (2009), Chinua Achebe (2007) and Ismail Kadare, who won the inaugural prize in 2005.