Brooker Prize 2019: All you need to know about Margaret Atwood and Bernandine Evaristo

Brooker Prize 2019: All you need to know about Margaret Atwood and Bernandine Evaristo

FPJ Web DeskUpdated: Tuesday, October 15, 2019, 10:52 AM IST
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The judging panel for the Booker Prize in London named Canadian writer Margaret Atwood and British author Bernardine Evaristo as the winners of the prestigious literary award.

Despite the fact that the rules of the competition say that the award may only be bestowed on a single individual each year, the judging panel decided to make an exception on this occasion and declare a tie after more than five hours of deliberations on Monday, Efe news reported. Atwood, the author of "The Testaments," and Evaristo, who earlier this year released "Girl, Woman, Other," will share the cash award of 50,000 pounds sterling (57,200 euros or $63,051) that comes with the recognition.

Who is Margaret Atwood?

Margaret Atwood is a Canadian writer born on November 18, 1939 in Ottawa, Canada. The internationally-known author has written award-winning poetry, short-stories and novels, including The Circle Game (1966), The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), The Blind Assassin (2000), Oryx and Crake (2003) and The Tent (2006). Her works have been translated into an array of different languages and seen several screen adaptations, with both Handmaid's Tale and Alias Grace becoming miniseries in 2017.

She won the Man Booker prize in 2000 for her historical novel The Blind Assassin, earned nominations for The Handmaid’s Tale, Cats Eye, Alias Grace and Oryx and Crake, and took home the Arthur C Clarke Award for best science-fictional novel for The Handmaid’s Tale as well.

This is the 79-year-old Atwood's second Booker of her career, taking the honours this time for her sequel to "The Handmaid's Tale (1985), a dystopic story that has acquired new relevance in the feminist genre thanks to its popular television adaptation.

Who is Bernardine Evaristo?

A London born, Bernardine Evaristo was originally trained as an actress and worked in theatre. She was born to an English mother and Nigerian father. The fourth of eight siblings, she was raised in Woolwich, South London.

Evaristo has also written for theatre, radio, print media and for a multi-media collaboration Cityscapes with saxophonist Andy Sheppard and pianist Joanna MacGregor for the City of London Festival in 2003. She has undertaken over 50 international writers' tours since 1997, ranging from one-night readings to three-month teaching residencies.

Evaristo, meanwhile, at age 60 becomes the only black woman to take home a Booker, her first, for a work exploring the lives and struggles of different black women in the modern-day United Kingdom. Girl, Woman, Other, her eighth work of fiction, tells the stories of 12 predominantly black female British characters aged 19 to 93.

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