Anna Burns’s “Milkman” wins the Man Booker prize

First writer from Northern Ireland to claim the prestigious award

Author Anna Burns has won the Man Booker Prize for her novel ‘Milkman’, becoming the first author from Northern Ireland to win the most prestigious English-language literary award.

Burns, 56, who was born in Belfast, is the 17th woman to bag the award in its 49-year history and the first woman since 2013. It was her third novel. ‘Milkman’, a coming of age story of a young woman’s affair with a married man set in the political troubles of Northern Ireland, was named the winner at a lavish awards ceremony.

“None of us has ever read anything like this before. Anna Burns’ utterly distinctive voice challenges conventional thinking and form in surprising and immersive prose,” said Kwame Anthony Appiah, the chair of the 2018 judging panel.

“It is a story of brutality, sexual encroachment and resistance threaded with mordant humour. Set in a society divided against itself, ‘Milkman’ explores the insidious forms oppression can take in everyday life,” he said.The recipient of the Man Booker Prize gets 52,500 pounds (Rs 50.85 lakh).