Author Salman Rushie is the bookmakers' tip to win the Booker of Booker prizes, adding to his existing two awards.
Rushdie's 1981 novel Midnight's Children is joined by five other former Booker winners on the shortlist, including Peter Carey and Pat Barker.
JM Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer and JG Farrell are also in the running for the prize marking 40 years of the Booker.
The award, which will be voted for by the public, will be presented at London's Literary Festival on 10 July.
Outsider
The most recent book on the all-time shortlist - selected from all 41 previous Booker winners - is Coetzee's Disgrace from 1999.
The South African-born author's novel is second favourite to take the honour.
Gordimer, in the running for her 1974 winner The Conservationist, is also South African.
Australian author Peter Carey is shortlisted for Oscar and Lucinda, which gave him the first of his two Booker wins in 1988.
The late Liverpool-born author JG Farrell's 1973 winner The Siege of Krishnapur is the oldest winner on the list, with Yorkshire writer Pat Barker completing the list with 1995's The Ghost Road.
Farrell has been installed as the outsider to be awarded the prize.
The shortlist was chosen by a panel of experts including novelist and critic Victoria Glendinning and broadcaster Mariella Frostrup.
The Booker Prize, which began in 1969, has spawned 41 winners because it was shared between two authors in 1974 and 1992.
^ Back to top | BBC Sport Home | BBC Homepage | Contact us | Help | ©
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~33~RS~)