The prize, which is limited to Asian authors, was founded in 2007 and shares the same sponsor as the Man Booker Prize, among the world's top literary awards.

HONG KONG:  The shortlist for Asia's top literary prize was to be announced in Hong Kong on Tuesday with five titles from across the region vying for the $30,000 award.

“Brick Lane” author Monica Ali and her fellow judges, Harvard academic Homi K. Bhabha and award-winning writer Hsu-Ming Teo, have been tasked with choosing the shortlist for the Man Asian Literary Prize from a selection of 10 books.

The shortlist was due to be announced at 1000 GMT with the winner to be unveiled in March.

The longlist includes six titles by Indian authors, two by Japanese writers and one each from China and the Philippines, which were whittled down from 54 titles from 14 Asian countries.

Japanese author Kenzaburo Oe, winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize for Literature, heads the field with “The Changeling”, which tells the story of one man's search to find out why his brother-in-law killed himself.

The longlist also includes “Three Sisters”, a portrait of contemporary Chinese culture by Bi Feiyu, and “Way To Go” by Indian author Upamanyu Chatterjee, a tale about an 85-year-old man who goes missing.

Other books by Indian authors to make the list are “Dahanu Road” by Anosh Irani, “Serious Men” by Manu Joseph, “The Thing About Thugs” by Tabish Khair, “Monkey-man” by Usha K.R. and “Tiger Hills” by Sarita Mandanna.

“Below the Crying Mountain” by Filipina writer Criselda Yabes is set during the Moro rebellion that broke out in Sulu, in the Philippines, in the 1970s.

“Hotel Iris” by Japanese writer Yoko Ogawa is set in a crumbling seaside hotel and follows a quiet, 17-year-old girl who finds herself drawn to a middle-aged man who has been kicked out of a room with a prostitute.

The prize, which is limited to Asian authors, was founded in 2007 and shares the same sponsor as the Man Booker Prize, among the world's top literary awards.