Margaret Atwood and Bernadine Evaristo, have been announced as joint winners of the 2019 Man Booker Prize for Literature.
The Booker Prize for Fiction, formerly known as the Booker–McConnell Prize (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original novel written in the English language and published in the United Kingdom.
The prize, which bestows international renown on shortlisted and winning writers alike, saw Margaret Atwood who has won the prize twice, emerge as joint winner of this year’s prize, for her book, “The Testament.” She has also been shortlisted four times for the prize, for her other books: The Handmaid’s Tale (1986), Cat’s Eye (1989), Alias Grace (1996) and Oryx and Crake (2003).
Bernadine Evaristo, makes history as the first black woman to have been awarded the prize since its inception. Her winning book, “Girl, Woman, Other,” is her eighth book of fiction, which she has written alongside essays, drama and writing for BBC radio.
Chair of judges, Peter Florence, has this to say about the winning books; “This ten month process has been a wild adventure. In the room today we talked for five hours about books we love. Two novels we cannot compromise on. They are both phenomenal books that will delight readers and will resonate for ages to come.”
“Quichotte,” by Salman Rushdie and “An Orchestra of Minorities” by Chigozie Obioma, were amongst the six books shortlisted earlier in the year for the prize.
