The Scottish novelist Ali Smith has been shortlisted for the most prestigious prize in fiction, the Man Booker Prize.
Her novel Autumn, published by Hamish Hamilton, has been named in the six-strong shortlist for the annual prize.
Her work joins 4321 by Paul Auster, History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund, Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, Elmet by Fiona Mozley and Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders.
Fridlund and Mozley are both shortlisted for the first time, while Hamid and Smith have made the shortlist in previous years.
The shortlist is comprised of two British, one British-Pakistani and three American writers.
The Herald's review of Autumn noted: "Autumn is the first in a series of four novels connected to the seasons and to some it might seem a strange way to start: if Smith follows the seasons in sequence she will complete the quartet with Summer, a similarly strange place to end.
"But an often warm and friendly strangeness is part of Smith’s appeal.
"Her experimentation is close, rather than lofty and distant; her characters wholly sympathetic for all their cut-up representation; her intellectualism lightly worn, not point-scoring."
This year’s judges are chaired by Baroness Lola Young.
"With six unique and intrepid books that collectively push against the borders of convention, this year’s shortlist both acknowledges established authors and introduces new voices to the literary stage," said Baroness Young.
"Playful, sincere, unsettling, fierce: here is a group of novels grown from tradition but also radical and contemporary.
"The emotional, cultural, political and intellectual range of these books is remarkable, and the ways in which they challenge our thinking is a testament to the power of literature."
Lincoln in the Bardo, about the US President coming to terms with the death of a beloved son, has already been installed as the favourite to win the £50,000 prize by bookmakers.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here