The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature today announced the 16-title longlist for the 2012 prize. 

The longlist for the prestigious $50,000 prize, which selects the finest writing from or focusing on South Asia,  includes both established and debut writers, as well as three translated works.

Notable debut works on the longlist are Bombay based journalist Manu Joseph's Serious Men, along with Kishwar Desai's acclaimed Witness The Night, which won the 2010 COSTA first novel award, and Shehan Karunatilaka's fictional cricketing opus, Chinaman.

More established writers on the list include Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (author of 15 books, including The Mistress Of Spices) with her novel One Amazing Thing which tells the stories of nine strangers trapped in an India visa office after an earthquake. Others include Siddharth Chowdhury  Day Scholar,and Omair Ahmad for Jimmy The Terrorist.