Oxford author Ian McEwan is joint favourite to win the Booker Prize, Britain's most coveted literary award.
McEwan, who won in in 1999 with his novel Amsterdam, has been shortlisted for his widely-praised new book An Atonement. The early favourite Beryl Bainbridge was a surprise omission from the list of six, who each stand a chance of collecting the £21,000 prize.
North Oxford author Philip Pullman, who was nominated for his Amber Spyglass, was also left out. He was the first children's writer to be considered for the Booker -- outdoing even the Harry Potter writer JK Rowling.
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