Hilary Mantel and Zadie Smith nominated for Women's Prize For Fiction

Mantel, who has dominated at recent literary awards, is shortlisted for Bring Up the Bodies, her sequel to 2009 Tudor bestseller Wolf Hall, while Zadie Smith is recognised for her London-set novel NW.

Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, A M Homes' May We Be Forgiven, Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behaviour and Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette are also nominated for prestigious prize. The winner will be announced on 5 June.

If Mantel wins she will become the first author to win all of the UK's major book prizes. Last year, she became the only woman to have won the Man Booker twice - and has since added to her collection of accolades by taking home the Costa Book of the Year prize in January.

Fellow Women's Prize nominee and previous recipient Zadie Smith, who is best known for her debut novel White Teeth, has also found herself named in Granta's 20 best young novelists list this week.

The literary magazine announces a round up of Britain's 20 bright stars once a decade - the list often sparks controversy, but is also notable for its multicultural mix and emphasis on female writers.

Also named on the list, which was announced at the British Council in London last night, were Naomi Alderman, Tahmima Anam, Ned Beauman, Jenni Fagan, Adam Foulds, Xiaolu Guo, Sarah Hall, Steven Hall, Joanna Kavenna, Benjamin Markovits, Nadifa Mohamed, Helen Oyeyemi, Ross Raisin, Sunjeev Sahota, Taiye Selasi, Kamila Shamsie, David Szalay, Adam Thirlwell and Evie Wyld.

BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime will be showcasing short stories from Granta authors every night this week