The shortlist for this year’s Man Booker Prize highlights both big-name authors and small publishers.

The Booker prize aims to recognise the ‘best novel of the year written by a citizen of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland’ and the shortlist, chosen by panel Dinah Birch, Amanda Foreman, Dan Stevens, Bharat Tandon and chair Sir Peter Stothard, has just been announced.

Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up The Bodies (the sequel to Wolf Hall, which won the Booker in 2009) and Will Self’s Umbrella are the big-name contenders, but the shortlist also spotlights a number of small publishers, as well as a debut novel by Jeet Thayil.

Here is the full shortlist:

• Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil
• Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel
• Umbrella by Will Self
• The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
• Swimming Home by Deborah Levy
• The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

The eventual winner for 2012 will be announced on October 16, and take home £50,000 in prize money.