·
Paul Beatty becomes first American writer
to win prestigious prize
·
Second consecutive win for independent
publisher Oneworld
#FinestFiction
The Sellout by Paul Beatty is tonight, Tuesday 25 October, named winner of the 2016 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. The Sellout is published by small independent publisher Oneworld, who had their first win in 2015 with Marlon James’ A Brief History of Seven Killings.
The 54-year-old New York resident, born in
Los Angeles, is the first American author to win the prize in its 48-year
history. US authors became eligible in 2014. The 2016 shortlist included two
British, two US, one Canadian and one British-Canadian writer.
The Sellout is a searing satire on race relations in contemporary
America. The Sellout is described by The
New York Times as a ‘metaphorical multicultural pot almost too hot to
touch’, whilst the Wall Street Journal called it a ‘Swiftian
satire of the highest order. Like someone shouting fire in a crowded theatre,
Mr. Beatty has whispered “Racism” in a postracial
world.’
The book is narrated by African-American ‘Bonbon’,
a resident of the run-down town of Dickens in Los Angeles county, which has
been removed from the map to save California from embarrassment. Bonbon is
being tried in the Supreme Court for attempting to reinstitute slavery and
segregation in the local high school as means of bringing about civic order.
What follows is a retrospective of this whirlwind scheme, populated by
cartoonish characters who serve to parody racial stereotypes. The
framework of institutional racism and the unjust shooting of Bonbon’s father at
the hands of police are particularly topical.
Amanda Foreman, 2016 Chair of judges,
comments: ‘The Sellout is a novel for our
times. A tirelessly inventive modern satire, its humour disguises a radical
seriousness. Paul Beatty slays sacred cows with abandon and takes aim at racial
and political taboos with wit, verve and a snarl.’
Though Beatty cites satirists Joseph
Heller and Kurt Vonnegut as formative influences, he remarked to The Paris
Review that he was ‘surprised that everybody keeps calling this a comic
novel… I’m not sure how I define it.’
This is the second consecutive Man Booker
Prize success for independent publisher Oneworld,
following Marlon James’ win with A Brief History of Seven Killings in
2015.
Amanda Foreman was joined on the 2016 panel of judges by Jon Day, Abdulrazak Gurnah, David Harsent and Olivia Williams. The judges considered 155 books for this year’s prize, including a
total of 11 call-ins.
In addition to his £50,000 prize and
trophy, Beatty also receives a designer bound edition of his book and a further
£2,500 for being shortlisted.
On winning the Man Booker Prize, an author
can expect international recognition, plus a dramatic increase in book sales.
Last year’s winning novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon
James, has gone on to sell over 360,000 copies in the UK and Commonwealth, as
well as 120,000 in the US. When accepting his prize, James said, ‘I just met
Ben Okri and it just reminded me of how much of my
literary sensibilities were shaped by the Man Booker Prize… It suddenly
increases your library by 13 books.’
Other recent winners have included Hilary
Mantel (2012 and 2009), whose Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies
have led to award-winning adaptations on stage and screen, and Julian Barnes
(2011), whose The Sense of an Ending will soon be adapted for film.
Other winning novels that have gone on to have second or third lives on stage
and screen include Schindler’s Ark (directed by Steven Spielberg as Schindler’s
List), The Remains of the Day and The English Patient.
This is the third year that the prize has
been open to writers of any nationality, writing originally in English and
published in the UK. Previously, the prize was open only to authors from the UK
& Commonwealth, Republic of Ireland and Zimbabwe. The 2016 shortlist
included two British, two US, one Canadian and one British-Canadian writer.
First awarded in 1969, the Man Booker
Prize is recognised as the leading award for high quality literary fiction
written in English. Its list of winners features many of the giants of the last
four decades: from Salman
Rushdie to Margaret
Atwood, Iris
Murdoch to JM
Coetzee.
Paul Beatty’s win was announced by Amanda
Foreman at a black-tie dinner at London’s Guildhall, where he was presented
with a trophy from HRH The Duchess of Cornwall and a £50,000 cheque from Luke
Ellis, Chief Executive of Man Group. Guests at the event, which was broadcast
live on the BBC News Channel, included the shortlisted authors, well-known
figures from the literary world and VIPs including AS Byatt, Ben Okri, Karen Bradley, John Hurt and Fiona Shaw.
Paul Beatty will take part in will take
part in his first public event as winner at a New Statesman-partnered
event at Foyles on Friday 28 October 2016.
Royal Mail is issuing a congratulatory
postmark featuring the winner’s name, which will be applied to millions of
items of stamped mail nationwide from Wednesday 26 to Saturday 29 October 2016.
It will say ‘Congratulations to Paul Beatty, winner of the 2016 Man Booker
Prize’.
Man Group has sponsored the prize since
2002. One of the world’s largest independent alternative investment managers,
Man Group is a partner that mirrors the quality, integrity and longevity of the
prize.
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