Outsider Beats Big Names for Booker Prize

Irish author Anne Enright wins with bleak family tale
By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 16, 2007 7:18 PM CDT
Outsider Beats Big Names for Booker Prize
Irish writer Anne Enright holds a copy of her book after she won the Man Booker fiction prize for "The Gathering," an uncompromising portrait of a troubled family that its author called the literary equivalent of a Hollywood weepie, in London Tuesday Oct. 16 2007. Enright had been considered a long-shot...   (Associated Press)

Chalk up one for the little guy (or girl): Relative newcomer Anne Enright won this year's coveted Man Booker prize for best novel, fending off big names like Ian McEwan and Lloyd Jones. Prize chairman Sir Howard Davies blasted book reviewers at the event, saying they treat known authors with "kid gloves" while ignoring fresh talent.

Davis called Enright's novel, The Gathering, "a powerful, uncomfortable and even, at times, angry book—an unflinching look at a grieving family in tough and striking language." The Gathering beat out favorites On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan, and Mr. Pip, by Lloyd Jones, as well as 3 other finalists, the Times reports. (More Anne Enright stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X