The 13 selected books on the so-called long list include novels set in Mexico City, on a remote Scottish island, at an assisted suicide clinic in Zurich and in Jamaica in the 1980s.
Jury chair Mary Beard describes the 13 novels as "dynamite".
"We are confident that our long list of books has something for everyone," she tells the BBC.
The list, called the Booker Dozen, will be reduced to a shorter list on September 22 before the winner of one of the literary world's most prestigious prizes is announced on November 9.
Last year's winner was the British-Hungarian author David Szalay for the novel "Meat".
