AUTHORS from India, China and Japan swept the shortlist for Asia’s top literary prize Tuesday, with a debut novelist and Nobel Prize winner among those vying for the US$30,000 award.

    Manu Joseph grabbed one of five shortlisted spots for The Man Asian Literary Prize with his debut “Serious Men,” while Japanese author Kenzaburo Oe, winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize for Literature, was also among the finalists for “The Changeling.”

    The story tells of one man’s search to find out why his brother-in-law killed himself.

    Acclaimed Chinese author Bi Feiyu’s “Three Sisters,” a portrait of contemporary Chinese culture, “The Thing About Thugs” by Tabish Khair and Japanese writer Yoko Ogawa’s “Hotel Iris” rounded out the five finalists.

    Ogawa’s novel is set in a crumbling seaside hotel and follows a quiet, 17-year-old girl who finds herself drawn to a middle-aged man who has been kicked out of a room with a prostitute.

    The winner will be announced at a dinner in Hong Kong next month.

    Judge Monica Ali said she and her fellow judges, Harvard academic Homi K. Bhabha and award-winning writer Teo Hsu-Ming, agreed on a shortlist that highlights Asia’s “thriving” literary scene.

    “(The books) were judged purely on literary excellence,” Ali said. “That was the only criteria we used.”

    All the shortlisted titles touched on the human experience “in language that was beautifully honed,” Ali said.

    The prize, which is limited to Asian authors, was founded in 2007 and shares the same sponsor as the Man Booker Prize, among the world’s top literary awards.

    Professor David Parker, the Asian award’s chairman, said he was aiming eventually to put it in the same league as the Booker Prize, and “to give Asian authors the same kind of recognition.” (SD-Agencies)