Lincoln in the Bardo by
George Saunders is tonight, Tuesday 17 October, named winner of the 2017 Man
Booker Prize for Fiction. Lincoln in the Bardo is the first full-length
novel from George Saunders, internationally renowned short story writer.
The 58-year-old New York resident, born in Texas, is
the second American author to win the prize in its 49-year history. He was in
contention for the prize with two British, one British-Pakistani and two
American writers.
Lola, Baroness Young, 2017 Chair of judges, comments:
Lincoln in the Bardo
focuses on a single night in the life of Abraham Lincoln: an actual moment in
1862 when the body of his 11-year-old son was laid to rest in a Washington
cemetery. Strangely and brilliantly, Saunders activates this graveyard with the
spirits of its dead. The Independent described the novel as ‘completely
beguiling’, praising Saunders for concocting a ‘narrative like no other: a
magical, mystery tour of the bardo – the “intermediate” or transitional state
between one’s death and one’s next birth, according to Tibetan Buddhism.’
Meanwhile, the Guardian wrote that, ‘the short story master’s first
novel is a tale of great formal daring . . . . [it] stands head and shoulders
above most contemporary fiction, showing a writer who is expanding
his universe outwards, and who clearly has many more pleasures to offer
his readers.’
Saunders told TIME magazine that he didn’t
really want to write about Lincoln, ‘but was so
captivated by this story I'd heard years ago about him entering his son's
crypt. I thought of the book as a way of trying to instil the same reaction I'd
had all those years ago.’
Lincoln in the Bardo
is published by Bloomsbury, making it the third
consecutive year the prize has been won by an independent publisher, following
Oneworld Publications’ success in 2015 with Marlon James and 2016 with Paul
Beatty. Bloomsbury has won the prize three times before, with Howard Jacobson
(2010), Margaret Atwood (2000) and Michael Ondaatje (1992).
Saunders’ win comes in the month that 1989 Booker
Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro was named as this year’s Nobel Prize in
Literature recipient. Ishiguro follows in the footsteps of other Booker
Prize-recognised authors who have gone on to win the award including: V. S.
Naipaul, Nadine Gordimer, William Golding, J. M. Coetzee and Doris Lessing.
Luke Ellis, CEO of Man
Group, comments:
‘We
are pleased to congratulate George Saunders, along with each of the shortlisted
authors, for his fantastic achievement this year. At Man Group, we are
extremely proud to be sponsoring the world’s foremost literary prize and
celebrating exceptional literary talent for a fifteenth year. We understand the
importance of intellectual capital and creative thought – and indeed, the
ability to view the world from different lenses matters more than ever today,
in this age of rapid and inexorable change. We also believe that businesses
like ours have an important duty to advance progress in education at every
level: from prizes like this, which recognise global talent, to the local
grassroots initiatives championed by the Booker Prize Foundation and the Man
Charitable Trust, which we are honoured to support.’
Lola, Baroness Young was joined on the 2017 judging panel by the literary
critic, Lila Azam Zanganeh; the Man Booker Prize shortlisted novelist, Sarah Hall; the artist, Tom Phillips CBE RA; and the travel writer and novelist, Colin Thubron CBE. The judges considered 144 submissions for this
year’s prize.
George Saunders’ win was announced by Lola Young at a
dinner at London’s Guildhall. He was presented with a trophy from HRH The
Duchess of Cornwall and a £50,000 cheque by Luke Ellis, Chief Executive of Man
Group. Saunders also receives a designer bound edition of his book and a
further £2,500 for being shortlisted.
At the event, which was broadcast live on the BBC News Channel, actors Maxine Peake, Rhashan Stone and Olivia Williams, read extracts from the shortlisted books. All the shortlisted authors attended alongside a number of former winners.
George Saunders will take part in his first official
public event as winner at a New Statesman-partnered event at Foyles
Charing Cross Road on Thursday 19 October 2017. Tickets can be bought here.
Royal Mail is again issuing a congratulatory postmark
featuring the winner’s name, which will be applied to millions of items of
stamped mail nationwide on Wednesday 18 October and Friday 20 October 2017. It
will say ‘Congratulations to George Saunders, winner of the 2017 Man Booker
Prize’.
On winning the Man Booker Prize, an author can expect
international recognition, plus a dramatic increase in book sales. In the week
following the 2016 winner announcement, sales of The Sellout by Paul
Beatty increased by 658%. To date over 360,000 print copies of the Oneworld
edition have been sold, and 26 foreign language rights deals have been secured
– 19 since his win.
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, Julian Barnes (2011), whose The
Sense of an Ending was released as a film this year, and Marlon James’ A
Brief History of Seven Killings (2015), which has been optioned for a TV
series by HBO. Further winning novels that have gone on to have second or third
lives on stage, screen and radio include Midnight’s Children, Schindler’s
Ark (directed by Steven Spielberg as Schindler’s List), The Remains
of the Day and The English Patient.
The leading prize for quality fiction in English
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 includes many of the giants of the last four
decades, from Salman Rushdie to Margaret Atwood, Iris Murdoch to JM Coetzee. The prize has also recognised many authors early in their careers,
including Eleanor Catton, Aravind Adiga and Ben Okri.
Man Group, an active investment management firm, has sponsored the prize
since 2002.
To hear the most up-to-date news on this year’s prize, listen to the Man
Booker Prize Podcast series, or to learn more about the prize’s history and
share your thoughts online, please visit:
Footnote:
See podcast from the Writer's Festival Director Anne O'Brien -
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