- Title: Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo share 2019 Booker Prize
- Date: 14th October 2019
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - SEPTEMBER 9, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF COPIES OF "THE TESTAMENTS" BEING SOLD NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE - APRIL 13, 2018) (REUTERS) ATWOOD POSING FOR PICTURES
- Embargoed: 28th October 2019 21:10
- Keywords: Margaret Atwood Handmaid's Tale The Testaments Bernardine Evaristo
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK / LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES / TORONTO, CANADA / OVIEDO, SPAIN / FRANKFURT, GERMANY
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK / LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES / TORONTO, CANADA / OVIEDO, SPAIN / FRANKFURT, GERMANY
- Country: Various
- Topics: Books,Arts / Culture / Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA003B12LTUH
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Margaret Atwood's "The Testaments" and Bernardine Evaristo's "Girl, Woman, Other" jointly won the Booker Prize on Monday (October 14) in a surprise double award in which the literary prize recognised its oldest and first black woman winners.
The authors will split the 50,000 pounds ($62,800) annual prize, the judging panel said. The award honours "the best novel of the year written in English and published in the UK and Ireland."
Atwood, 79, previously won the prize in 2000 for "The Blind Assassin," and "The Testaments," published last month, is the sequel to the Canadian author's best-selling 1985 novel, "The Handmaid's Tale."
Evaristo, the first black woman to win the prize, tells the stories of 12 characters, mainly female and black aged 19 to 93, living in Britain in "Girl, Woman, Other."
While the prize has been jointly awarded twice previously, the rules changed in 1993 limiting the award to one author. The judges defied those rules, saying they could not agree on a winner between the two books, which were on a shortlist of six.
Atwood's book, eagerly awaited by fans, returns to the totalitarian state of Gilead some 15 years after the end of "The Handmaid's Tale," telling the story of three women.
Atwood has said a deterioration in women's rights in some parts of the world including in the United States prompted her to write the sequel, described as a "savage and beautiful novel" by the judging panel. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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