New Delhi, Sep 26 (IANS): Seven writers, including Amitav Ghosh, Sunil Gangopadhyay and U.R. Ananthamurthy, are in the fray for the Hindu Best Fiction Award 2011, the Chennai-based newspaper group has announced.

The shortlist for the award was unveiled by journalist Manu Joseph, who won the award last year for his "Serious Men", at the end of the day-long Hindu Lit for Life festival Sunday evening in the presence of the panel of four judges and organisers.

The award will be presented Oct 30 in Chennai.

The shortlist includes "River of Smoke" by Amitav Ghosh, "The Fakir" (translated from Bengali) by Sunil Gangopadhyay, "Bharatipura" by U.R. Ananthamurthy (translated from Malayalam), "Litanies of the Dutch Battery" by N.S. Madhavan (translated from Malayalam), "The Folded Earth" by Anuradha Roy, "The Sly Company of People Who Care" by Rahul Bhattacharya, and "The Storyteller of Marrakesh" by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya.

The jury had received 129 submissions for the award this year.