US author George Saunders wins 2017 Man Booker Prize

US author George Saunders has won 2017 Man Booker Prize for his novel ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’.

About George Saunders and his novel ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’:

George Saunders has become second American author to win this award. In 2016, Paul Beatty became the first American to win this award for his novel ‘The Sellout’.

• ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’, the novel for which George Saunders has won 2017 Man Booker Prize, narrates former US President Abraham Lincoln’s grief after the death of his 11-year-old son Willie in 1862 and his visits to his tomb in Washington cemetery.
• Besides penning award-winning short story collections, essays, illustrated fables and a bestselling children’s book, George Saunders has also written many pieces of journalism.
• He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and a MacArthur Fellowship in 2006. Besides, he also received an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2009.
• British writers Ali Smith and Fiona Mozley, American writers Auster and Emily Fridlund, and British-Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid were the other shortlisted writers for this year’s Booker Prize.

About Man Booker Prize:

Man Booker Prize is presented by Man Group and is awarded for best original novel, written in the English language, and published in the UK.

• It was first awarded in 1969 and at that time it was known as Booker-McConnell Prize.
• Earlier, only citizens of Commonwealth, Ireland, and South Africa (and later Zimbabwe) were eligible to receive the prize. However, in 2014 the eligibility was widened to any English-language novel.
• The winner is selected by a judging panel which is formed by an advisory committee. The advisory committee comprises a writer, two publishers, a literary agent, a bookseller, a librarian, and a chairperson appointed by the Booker Prize Foundation.
• The prize money for this award is 50000 British Pounds.