SA playwright and novelist Damon Galgut on Wednesday won the 2021 Booker Prize for 'The Promise', his third shortlisted novel which chronicles a family in his homeland from the late apartheid era through to Jacob Zuma's presidency.
AFP/File | Tolga Akmen
"I am really profoundly, humbly grateful for this," the 57-year-old said as he accepted the prestigious British award at a televised ceremony in London. The white South African writer has said he wanted the critically acclaimed novel to show how"the passing of time" impacts a family, a country, its politics and"notions of justice" -- all while also exploring mortality."This has been a great year for African writing and I'd like to accept this on behalf of all the stories told and untold, the writers heard and unheard, from the remarkable continent that I'm part of," he said.
Maya Jasanoff, chair of this year's judges, lauded all the final contenders but singled out"The Promise" for its"incredible originality and fluidity of voice" and as a book"really dense with historical and metaphorical significance". Another US writer, Patricia Lockwood, 39, was nominated for her debut novel,"No One Is Talking About This", featuring a 30-something obsessed with social media who has to deal with a shocking medical diagnosis.Sri Lankan writer Anuk Arudpragasam, 33, in his second novel,"A Passage North", focuses on the traumatic legacy of the country's almost three-decade civil war that ended in 2009.
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