US author George Saunders wins 2017 Man Booker Prize

American author George Saunders won the 2017 Man Booker Prize, a high-profile literary award for his first full-length novel “Lincoln in the Bardo”.
With this, he became second consecutive American writer to win prize after Paul Beatty (for his novel The Sellout), after rules were changed in 2014 to allow authors of any book written in English and published in UK to compete.

Lincoln in the Bardo

It is set in 1862, a year into the American Civil war. It is a blend of historical accounts and imaginative fiction, which sees Lincoln’s son Willie, who died in the White House at tender age of 11, in Bardo, a Tibetan form of purgatory.

George Saunders

He is American writer of short stories, novellas, essays, children’s books and a novel. He is professor at Syracuse University. He has won National Magazine Award for fiction in 1994, 1996, 2000, and 2004 and Henry Awards in 1997.
His first story collection, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, was a finalist for the 1996 PEN/Hemingway Award. He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2006 and also won World Fantasy Award same year for his short story “CommComm”. In 2013, he had won PEN/Malamud Award. His Tenth of December: Stories won 2013 Story Prize for short-story collections and inaugural (2014) Folio Prize.

Man Booker Prize

The Man Booker Prize world’s most prestigious English-language literary award. It was launched in 1969 and presented by the Man Group. It aims at promoting the finest literary work in fiction by rewarding the best novel of the year written in English and published in the United Kingdom. It carries cash prize of 50,000 pounds. The authors are shortlisted by judges from a wide range of disciplines and all with a passion for quality fiction.

Month: Current Affairs - October, 2017