- Title: ENGLAND: India's Desai is youngest woman Booker prizewinner
- Date: 11th October 2006
- Summary: LONDON, UK (OCTOBER 10, 2006) (REUTERS) STILLS OF BOOKER PRIZE WINNER KIRAN DESAI
- Embargoed: 26th October 2006 13:00
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- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
- Reuters ID: LVA6QX2J9923HHF7JHU2F9DT2RSH
- Story Text: Indian novelist Kiran Desai succeeded on Tuesday (October 11) where her mother failed and won the Booker prize, the youngest woman ever to capture one of the world's most prestigious literary awards.
Desai, whose mother and fellow writer Anita was three times shortlisted for the Booker, won the 50,000 pound ($93,060) prize at her first attempt for her sweeping novel "The Inheritance of Loss". She has just turned
The previous youngest woman winner had been Desai's fellow Indian Arundhati Roy, who won the prize in 1997 when just a month short of her 36th birthday.
The youngest ever winner was Ben Okri who landed the Booker in 1991 at the age of 32.
Desai's novel tells the story of an embittered judge who wants to retire in peace in his crumbling house in the Himalayas. But his life is turned upside down with the arrival of his orphaned granddaughter.
The judges said Desai, who was educated in India, England and the United States, had taken eight years to write the novel that has now catapulted her into the literary limelight.
She fought off stiff competition from Sarah Waters' "The Night Watch", Edward St Aubyn's "Mother's Milk," Kate Grenville's "The Secret River," M.J. Hyland's "Carry Me Down" and Hisham Matar's "In The Country of Men."
The prize, founded in 1969, rewards the best book of the year by a writer from Britain, Ireland or a Commonwealth country. It guarantees the winner instant literary fame and a place in bestseller lists around the globe. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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