American writer wins 2016 Man Booker Prize

American writer Paul Beatty's novel "The Sellout", a bitter and satirical story about race and class in America, won the 2016 Man Booker Prize - Britain's prestigious literary award.

Beatty is the first American writer to win this prize.

American writer Paul Beatty and his novel “The Sellout.” (Source: AP)

The judges unanimously awarded the prize to “The Sellout,” noting that Beatty’s provocative book could rank among the classics but was as topical as the evening news.

Historian Amanda Foreman, Chair of this year's Man Booker Prize Jury, said that "the book goes deep into the heart of contemporary American society, the writing is extremely witty, the kind of writing I haven't seen since Jonathan Swift or Mark Twain.

The book blends pop culture, politics, philosophy with humor and anger, touching on every social taboo.”

“The Sellout” is set in a suburb of Los Angeles called Dickens. The novel’s narrator is Bonbon, an African-American who was tried before the US Supreme Court for trying to re-establish slavery and racial segregation.

The book has been compared to the comedies of Richard Pryor and Chris Rock. Beatty tackles topics that many writers are afraid to tackle. Racial prejudice, offensive speech, and police brutality are exposed in Beatty’s writing.

Along with this prestigious award, Beatty received a prize of 50,000 pounds (about 61,000 USD) from Camilla, wife of Prince Charles, Duchess of Cornwall, at a ceremony held at the Guildhall building in London.

Established in 1969, the Man Booker Prize was originally awarded only to writers from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth. In 2014, the prize was opened to writers writing in English.

Many had feared that the change would lead to American writers dominating the prize. In 2014 and 2015, the prize went to Australian writer Richard Flanagan and Jamaica's Marlon James, while previously it had gone to British writers Salman Rushdie and Hilary Mantel; Nigeria's Ben Okri and Canada's Margaret Atwood./.

According to Vietnam+