This Year’s Man Booker Prize Winner Is Revealed

The winner of this year’s Man Booker Prize was revealed yesterday as New Zealand writer Eleanor Catton.

The 28-year-old author, who is the youngest winner of the coveted award, saw off strong competition including Irish author Colm Tóibín whose book The Testament of Mary was shortlisted.

It was Catton’s second novel The Luminaries that bagged her the title and £50,000 prize.

Set during the New Zealand gold rush, in the 1860s, the story follows the journey of 12 men who encounter a mysterious traveller at a meeting.

Speaking about it the chair of judges Robert Macfarlane explained: “We read it three times and each time we dug into the yields were extraordinary, its dividends astronomical.”

The author receiving her prize at the ceremony yesterday.

[Photo Credit: Janie Airey.]