Man Booker Prize Longlist: Will Self and Hilary Mantel Make Best Books of Year Contenders [SLIDESHOW]

The longlist for the 2012 Man Booker Prize has been released, with former winner Hilary Mantell and Will Self among the chosen authors.

The list features four debut novels, while several authors many presumed would be picked, such as Martin Amis and Zadie Smith, did not make the final dozen.

Hilary Mantel, who won the award in 2009 with Wolf Hall, made the list with its sequel, Bring up the Bodies. Will Self made the grade with his eighth novel, Umbrella.

Debut efforts to make the list were: Rachel Joyce's The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Alison Moore's The Lighthouse, Jeet Thayil's Narcopolis and Sam Thompson's Communion Town.

Othe titles chosen are Nicola Barker's The Yips, Andre Brink's Philida, The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng, Ned Beauman's The Teleportation Accident and Deborah Levy's Swimming Home.

"Goodness, madness and bewildering urban change are among the themes of this year's longlist. In an extraordinary year for fiction the Man Booker Dozen proves the grip that the novel has on our world," said Peter Stothard, chair of judges.

"We did not set out to reject the old guard but after a year of sustained critical argument by a demanding panel of judges, the new has come powering through."

He told the BBC that the books had been read several times by the judges.

"We want people to take them away and read them on holiday," he said. "But it's more important to me that they bring them back and read them again. They shouldn't be left in the sand."

Beauman is the youngest author in this year's list, at the age of 27. The prize brings huge prestige to a writer and a boom in sales.

Last year's winner, Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending, sold more than 100,000 copies.

The winner will be announced on 16 October.