Sarah Hall and Michael Chabon among judges for inaugural Folio Prize

Writers Nam Le and Pankaj Mishra also on the panel

Novelist Sarah Hall is one of the judges for the inaugural Folio Prize (Getty Images)

One of the newly anointed Granta best young British novelists and a Pulitzer prize-winning American are among the judges for the inaugural Folio Prize, the literary award dubbed the “Booker without the bow ties”.

Sarah Hall, who was named on the once-a-decade Granta list in April, and Michael Chabon, who won the Pulitzer for "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" in 2001, are on the five-strong judging panel for the £40,000 prize.

The group will be chaired by Lavinia Greenlaw, a poet and novelist who is professor of poetry at the University of East Anglia.

The panel is completed by Nam Le, author of "The Boat", and Pankaj Mishra, the Indian writer whose works include "The Romantics: A Novel".

The judges, who were drawn by lots from the newly created Folio Prize Academy, will select eight works for the shortlist after nominations from the academy, with the winner announced in March. The prize is open to writers from all around the world.

Professor Greenlaw said it was the “perfect time” for the new prize. “Fiction is finding new forms and writers are resisting all kinds of borders.”

The new prize was announced in March after it secured sponsorship from The Folio Society, and took 18 months to launch. It was the brainchild of Andrew Kidd, managing director of Aitken Alexander Associates.