NEW DELHI: India-born and controversial novelist Salman Rushdie has seen his new autobiography long-listed for the 2012 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction. The list includes 13 other titles and the winner will receive 20,000 British pounds. Organizers said the list includes Katherine Boo's ‘Behind the Beautiful Forevers', which describes life in a Mumbai slum in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, and books that span subjects such as economics, feathers and nuclear power. The winner will be announced on November 12. Rushdie's latest book hit stands this week and is an account of his years in the hiding under the threat of the fatwa. He had a number of death threats and rewards for his murder out. Universities minister David Willetts, who is the chairman of the panel of judges for the prize, said: “This has been a bumper year for non-fiction, and as judges we've enjoyed encountering new places and faces as well as enjoying classic stories being told afresh.” He added: “The longlist reflects the diverse range of high quality non-fiction available for readers to enjoy, and we hope they will be inspired to pick up some of these titles and be entertained by the true stories they tell.” Among the other books on the long list are: One on One by Craig Brown; Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest, by Wade Davis; The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, by Masha Gessen; and Feathers, by Thor Hansen; Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman; and The Old Ways by Robert MacFarlane. The judges are writer and biographer Patrick French; Paul Laity, non-fiction editor, The Guardian; Bronwen Maddox, editor, Prospect magazine; and philosopher, poet, novelist and cultural critic Professor Raymond Tallis. Previous winners include Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran.
