From correspondents in Delhi, India, 12:30 AM IST

Salman Rushdie's 'The Enchantress of Florence', Amitav Ghosh's 'Sea of Poppies' and 'Unaccustomed Earth' by Jhumpa Lahiri are among the fictions shortlisted for the Vodafone-Crossword Book Award 2008.

The fiction shortlist, announced in the capital Thursday, also has 'Past Continuous' by Neel Mukherjee and 'Escape' by Manjula Padmanabhan.

The shortlist in the non-fiction category includes 'Curfewed Nights' by Basharat Peer, 'Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite Country' by Sudeep Chakravarti, 'Smoke and Mirrors' by Pallavi Aiyar, 'The Last Jews of Kerala' by Edna Fernandes and 'The Women of Mahabharata'.

The shortlisted books in the Indian language fiction translation category include 'Dissonance and Other Stories' translated by K.S. Subramanian, 'Manto - Selected Stories' by Aatish Taseer, 'T'TA Professor' by Ira Pande and 'The Wind from the Hills' by Prema Jayakumar.

The winners will be announced and awards will be given to them July 23 in Mumbai. Each award carries a cash proze of Rs.300,000, a trophy and a citation. In the case of the translation category, the author and the translator share the prize money.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)