Minnesota author in the running for Man Booker prize

Twin Cities native Emily Fridlund is among the contenders for this year's Man Booker Prize for fiction, one of the highest awards in literature.

The debut novelist is in the running alongside Paul Auster, Colson Whitehead, past winner Arundhati Roy and more.

Fridlund's coming-of-age story "History of Wolves" and Whitehead's fantasy-tinged historical saga "The Underground Railroad" are among four works by U.S. authors on the list, alongside Auster's intimate epic "4 3 2 1" and George Saunders' magical, mournful "Lincoln in the Bardo."

Roy, who won the prize in 1997 for "The God of Small Things," is in contention again with her long-awaited second novel, "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness."

Previous finalists on the 2017 list include Britain's Zadie Smith, for "Swing Time;" Ireland's Sebastian Barry, for "Days Without End;" and Pakistan's Mohsin Hamid, for "Exit West."

The 13 books announced Thursday were chosen from 144 novels submitted by publishers.

Literary critic Lola Young, chairwoman of the judging panel, said the list contained works of "huge energy, imagination and variety."

Marlon James, a writer in residence and professor at Macalester College in St. Paul, won the Man Booker prize in 2015 for his novel "A Brief History of Seven Killings."

Founded in 1969 and originally open only to writers from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth, the Booker expanded in 2014 to include all English-language authors. Its first American winner was Paul Beatty's "The Sellout" in 2016.

The six finalists will be named Sept. 13, and the winner of the 50,000-pound ($65,000) prize will be announced Oct. 17.