The Rotters' Club author Jonathan Coe has been shortlisted for a £30,000 literary prize for his latest book Like a Fiery Elephant.
Jonathan Coe is nominated for biography of novelist BS Johnson
Coe's biography of novelist BS Johnson is one of six nominees for the BBC Four Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction.
Debut books by Alexander Masters, Suketu Mehta and Sarah Wise are nominated alongside books by Orhan Pamuk and Hilary Spurling.
The UK's most valuable non-fiction prize, the winner is named on 14 June.
All shortlisted authors will receive £1,000 in the annual competition.
This year's judging panel includes BBC broadcasters Sue MacGregor and John Simpson.
Masters has been nominated for Stuart: A Life Backwards, Mehta is shortlisted for Maximum City, his study of Bombay (Mumbai) and Wise has been chosen for The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave-Robbery in 1830s London.
Pamuk's Istanbul and Spurling's Matisse the Master complete the shortlist.
MacGregor said: "We, the judges, are all genuinely thrilled and delighted by the final six books. Their depth and range is impressive.
"It's heartening for the future of non-fiction publishing that half the list is made up of books by first-time authors."