Richard Flanagan shortlisted for 2014 Man Booker prize
Acclaimed Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan says he was astonished to be shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker prize.
His book The Narrow Road to the Deep North, which tells the story of prisoners of war on the Burma railway, was named as one of six in contention for the award overnight.
The 50,000-pound ($88,000) prize, which includes US authors for the first time, will be announced in London on October 14.
Speaking from Seattle in the US, where he is promoting the book, Flanagan said he was woken mid-morning with the good news.
"It's a wonderful feeling, but it's an overwhelming feeling too because to be a writer you don't expect those sort of things," he said.
The book has struck a chord with readers in Australia, the UK and the US, and Flanagan said he regarded readers as the true test and the real judges.
"My greatest debt is to them. That's why I write and that's why I'll continue to write," he said.
"When I was first published there were no glowing reviews, there were no prizes.
"It was readers who found me and it was readers who kept buying my books and supporting me. It's becasue of readers that I'm here now and I was able to write this book."
The Narrow Road to the Deep North prompted many people to contact Mr Flanagan with their own stories in relation to war and how the book had touched them.
"The most beautiful thing is you receive letters from the children of ex-prisoners of war or Afghanistan veterans or Iraq veterans and the book meant so much to them," he said.
"There was one son of a World War II veteran who wrote to me that his father had been alcoholic and violent but the book had explained so much to him and he felt as if it were arms stretching out and holding his family.
"And, you know, you realise you write a book in order to read a letter just like that - to know that you put some good into the world."
Flanagan said he hoped Tasmanians would share in and be inspired in some way by any success that came his way because "these stories of ourselves have resonated around the world".
With celebrations on the cards upon his return, Mr Flanagan put publicans in his hometown of Hobart on notice.
"There are a few bars that I'll be looking forward to spending some long nights in as soon as I return," he said.
"I can't wait to get back to Tassie and share the joy of this shortlisting with all my many, many dear friends and family [in] whatever bar has the immeasurably bad luck to have us arrive there ready for a drink."
