Three authors with Canadian connections nominated for prestigious Booker Prize

Author Ruth Ozeki is seen at a book signing at Hotel La Rose in Santa Rosa, Calif., Thursday, March 21, 2013. (Facebook)

LONDON -- British Columbia-based Ruth Ozeki and two Canadian-born expats have been nominated for the prestigious Booker Prize.

There are 13 authors competing for the prestigious literary award, a field heavy with new talent. Ozeki, who splits her time between Whaletown, B.C., and New York, is in the running for "A Tale for the Time Being," while Montreal-born Alison MacLeod's "Unexploded" and "The Luminaries" by Eleanor Catton, born in London, Ont., also earned nods.

The list also includes "Harvest" by Britain's Jim Crace, "Five Star Billionaire" by Malaysia's Tash Aw and Irish writer Colm Toibin's "The Testament of Mary."

The nominated books are from Britain, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Malaysia and Ireland.

Americans are ineligible for the prize, which is open to writers from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth.

But several of the books are by U.S.-based writers, including "The Lowland" by Jhumpa Lahiri -- born in Britain to Indian parents -- and "TransAtlantic" by Ireland-born Colum McCann.