Margaret Atwood, during a press conference on the publication day of her book The Testaments (Ian West/PA)
Sir Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood are vying to win this year’s Booker Prize, which will be announced tonight.
Both are previous winners of the literary prize.
Atwood previously won the prize for The Blind Assassin in 2000 and is in the running for The Testaments, her sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale.
Salman Rushdie with the front cover of his book, Quichotte (The Booker Prize)
Sir Salman claimed the award for Midnight’s Children in 1981 and could win for Quichotte.
Other shortlisted authors for the 2019 Booker are Lucy Ellmann for Ducks, Newburyport; Bernardine Evaristo for Girl, Woman, Other; Chigozie Obioma for An Orchestra Of Minorities; and Elif Shafak for 10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World.
Last year, the first Northern Irish winner, Anna Burns, claimed the prize for her work on societal coercion of women, Milkman.
The prize is being announced at a ceremony at The Guildhall in London.
