ANNA BURNS WINS 2018 MAN BOOKER
THAT’S A HUGE GIFT, SAYS MILKMAN AUTHOR
LONDON : Some find it a difficult read and others insist its prose is immersive, but British writer Anna Burns’ third novel Milkman, which draws on the experience of conflict in Northern Ireland, won her the 50th Man Booker Prize for Fiction on Tuesday. Belfast-born Burns, 56, was announced winner by the chair of judges, Kwame Anthony Appiah, at the Guildhall. She was presented a trophy, a £50,000 cheque, a designer-bound edition of her book and £2,500 more for being shortlisted.
The shortlist had six books, but Milkman, which uniquely does not name any character, saw off competition from two British writers, two American writers and a Canadian writer.
Appiah said: “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. 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.”
Characters in the book have designations rather than names. Burns said: “The book didn’t work with names. It lost power and atmosphere and turned into a lesser — or perhaps just a different — book.
“In the early days, I tried out names a few times, but the book wouldn’t stand for it. The narrative would become heavy and lifeless and refuse to move on until I took them out again. Sometimes the book threw them out itself.”