Booker Prize

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Dystopian Novel Called 'Soul-Shattering' Wins Booker Prize

Paul Lynch wins for 'Prophet Song'

(Newser) - Irish writer Paul Lynch won the Booker Prize for fiction on Sunday with what judges called a "soul-shattering" novel about a woman's struggle to protect her family as Ireland collapses into totalitarianism and war, the AP reports. Prophet Song, set in a dystopian fictional version of Dublin, was...

'Rollercoaster Journey Through Life and Death' Wins Booker Prize

Shehan Karunatilaka took trophy for 'The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida'

(Newser) - Writer Shehan Karunatilaka won the prestigious Booker Prize for fiction on Monday for The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, a satirical "afterlife noir" set during Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war. Karunatilaka, one of Sri Lanka’s leading authors, won the $57,000 award for his second novel, the...

Death of Hilary Mantel 'an Enormous Loss to Literature'

British writer who wrote historical fiction about Thomas Cromwell suffered a stroke

(Newser) - Hilary Mantel, the Booker Prize-winning author of the acclaimed Wolf Hall saga, has died. She was 70. Mantel died "suddenly yet peacefully," surrounded by close family and friends, publisher HarperCollins said Friday, per the AP . Her longtime literary agent, Bill Hamilton, confirmed to the New York Times that...

'This Is Going to Be a Classic'
'This Is Going
to Be a Classic'

'This Is Going to Be a Classic'

Douglas Stuart wins Booker Prize for 'Shuggie Bain,' his first published novel

(Newser) - Scottish writer Douglas Stuart won the Booker Prize for fiction Thursday for Shuggie Bain, the story of a boy's turbulent coming of age in hardscrabble 1980s Glasgow. Stuart, 44, won the prestigious $66,000 award for his first published novel, the product of a decade of work, the AP...

Jury Throws Out Rules, Voting Booker Tie

Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo share the fiction prize

(Newser) - It seems fitting that the jury deliberations for the Booker Prize would get all dramatic. Told repeatedly that they could pick only one winner of the fiction prize, the five jurors refused to choose between Margaret Atwood's The Testaments and Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other. So, while environmental...

One Book on Coveted Shortlist Has Just a Few Sentences

But, man, are they long sentences; the 2019 Booker Prize finalists are out

(Newser) - The shortlist is out for one of the literary world's most coveted honors, and Margaret Atwood's long-anticipated sequel to The Handmaid's Tale is on it. The Testaments will be released in the US next week, picking up 15 years after the original—turned into a hit Hulu...

Bob Marley-Inspired Novel Wins Booker Prize

Marlon James is the first Jamaican winner

(Newser) - Marlon James became the first Jamaican winner of the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction Tuesday with a vivid, violent, exuberant, and expletive-laden novel based on the attempted assassination of Bob Marley. The chairman of the judging panel said A Brief History of Seven Killings was "the most exciting...

Man Booker Prize Doesn't Go to an American

Australia's Richard Flanagan wins with WWII novel

(Newser) - This is the first year that American authors have been eligible for the prestigious Man Booker Prize , but their feared domination did not materialize: The prize has been won by Australian writer Richard Flanagan with The Narrow Road to the Deep North, set during the construction of the Burma Death...

Kiwi, 28, Is Youngest to Win Man Booker

Judges loved Eleanor Catton's 'The Luminaries'

(Newser) - At an age when many authors are still just getting warmed up, New Zealand author Eleanor Catton has taken home one of the literary world's big prizes. The 28-year-old won the Man Booker Prize for The Luminaries, a tale of murder and greed in her homeland's 19th-century goldfields....

Mantel Scores Record 2nd Man Booker Win

'Wolf Hall' sequel makes her first woman to win prize twice

(Newser) - British author Hilary Mantel made literary history last night by becoming the first woman to win the prestigious Man Booker prize twice, and the first author to win it with a direct sequel. Mantel, 60, overcame 144 other entries to win the prize with Bring Up the Bodies, the second...

Man Booker Prize Goes to Julian Barnes

'The Sense of an Ending' author once called prize 'posh bingo'

(Newser) - Julian Barnes once described the Man Booker Prize as “posh bingo,” but he won that game of bingo this week. Barnes won the 2011 prize for his 150-page novella, The Sense of an Ending, in a decision that took the judges just 31 minutes to reach, the Telegraph...

'Jewish Jane Austen' Wins Booker Prize

Howard Jacobson's comic novel is 'profound,' 'wise'

(Newser) - The writer who once called the Man Booker Prize an "absolute abomination" was last night awarded the prize for his 11th novel, The Finkler Question. Howard Jacobson, who calls himself "the Jewish Jane Austen," was “truly flabbergasted” by the honor, reports the Telegraph . “I was...

'Lost' Man Booker Prize From 1970 to Be Awarded

Rule change omitted all books published in 1970

(Newser) - In 1970, the Man Booker Prize went to a book published in 1969, but the rules changed in 1971 and the coveted prize was awarded to a book published that year—meaning no 1970 novel scored a Booker. Organizers plan to right the perceived wrong by awarding the Lost Man...

Coetzee Leads Heavy-Hitting Booker Prize Shortlist

Veterans outpace first-timers for prestigious literary gong

(Newser) - JM Coetzee may become the first author to win the Man Booker Prize three times after his fictionalized memoir Summertime made the prestigious literary award's shortlist today. The South African writer's new book takes the form of interviews by a biographer writing about "the late author John Coetzee."...

Canadian Snags Man Booker International

77-year-old short-story writer Munro 'just won us over,' judge says

(Newser) - Alice Munro, whose short stories the judges described as “practically perfect,” is the third winner of the $95,000 Man Booker International prize, the Guardian reports. The 77-year-old, author of 11 short story collections and one novel, is on a path to “international literary sainthood,” fellow...

Indian Author Adiga Wins Booker Prize for White Tiger

(Newser) - Indian author Aravind Adiga has won the UK's prestigious Man Booker Prize for his debut novel the White Tiger, the Guardian reports. Adiga's novel explores the darker side of India's rise to prosperity through its narrator, the son of a rickshaw puller who escapes crushing poverty. "In many ways...

Debuts Edge Favorites for Booker Shortlist

Rushdie, O'Neill passed over for top literary award

(Newser) - The jury for the Man Booker Prize announced its shortlist today—and left off the two books most hotly tipped to win the prestigious literary award, reports the Bookseller. Six novels were chosen, including two debuts. But many were surprised by the omission of Salman Rushdie's The Enchantress of Florence,...

Midnight's Children Wins Best of Bookers

Rushdie's epic novel beats out 6 others by public vote

(Newser) - Salman Rushdie's classic Midnight's Children, which nabbed the Booker Prize 27 years ago, has now won the Best of the Bookers by public vote, the Guardian reports. About a boy born at the hour of India's independence, the novel won over six previous prize winners. The prize "looks at...

Novelist Flayed for Dissing Maddy's Family

Uproar after Anne Enright admits dislike in essay on McCanns

(Newser) - Anne Enright’s recent essay about the Madeleine McCann saga might have passed with little notice, if only the Irish author hadn’t won the Man Booker Prize. Instead, newspapers raked her over the coals for a single line in which she said she “disliked the McCanns earlier than...

Outsider Beats Big Names for Booker Prize

Irish author Anne Enright wins with bleak family tale

(Newser) - 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...

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