The English Patient author Michael Ondaatje is among six writers in the running for the £25,000 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction.

Ondaatje has been selected for Warlight, his 2018 novel set in bomb-damaged London in 1945.

In 2018, the Canadian writer's novel The English Patient was crowned the best work of fiction of the last five decades when it scooped the one-off 'Golden' Man Booker Prize. 

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The shortlist for the Scottish literary prize, published today, also includes Peter Carey's A Long Way From Home and After the Party by Cressida Connolly.

Completing the list is The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey, Now We Shall Be Entirely Free by Andrew Miller and The Long Take by Robin Robertson.

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The prize, now in its 10th year, is awarded to books published in the previous year in the UK, Ireland or the Commonwealth, and set mostly in the past.

Previous winners have included Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (2010) and An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris (2014).

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The judging panel is lead by Alistair Moffat and includes broadcasters Kirsty Wark and James Naughtie.

The panel said: "Over the 10 years of our prize, we have been able to throw a spotlight onto an amazing variety of books and historical periods.

"This year is no exception, with a shortlist of dazzling diversity.

"What a privilege it is, to go on a journey through the fictional centuries, pick up gems that sparkle at us, and present them for new readers to discover."

The winner will be announced at the Baillie Gifford Borders Book Festival on June 15.