JOY FOR ANNA BURNS AS SHE BECOMES THE FIRST NI WRITER TO SCOOP MAN BOOKER PRIZE
ANNA Burns has become the first Northern Irish winner of the Man Booker Prize for her experimental tale of sexual coercion, Milkman.
The story of an 18-year-old girl’s encounters with sex, sectarianism and social coercion in an unnamed province has seen the north Belfast author become the first UK-born winner since Hilary Mantel in 2012.
Welcomed as a novel that will “help people think about Me Too”, it has also been praised for a unique first-person voice rich in the conversational language of Northern Ireland and its handling of universal problems facing women and outsiders.
Speaking after her win, Burns told BBC News why she had chosen not to give her characters names, instead using descriptions such as ‘Middle Sister’.
“The book just didn’t work with names,” she said.
“I think it’s something to do with, there’s a lack of safety of being straightforward in the book and declaring who you are, but really, if I put in names it lost power, it lost atmosphere.”
Burns said her real-life experience of growing up in Belfast “did have a huge influence on the book, writing about an entire society affected by long-term violence, living under intense pressure, and how that becomes normality”.
Former first minister Arlene Foster said: “Congratulations to Anna Burns on this historic achievement for a Northern Ireland author. I’m delighted that her literary genius has been recognised. This will also help to inspire the next generation of writers.
“Amongst all the things that hold us back, there are so many examples where this small country excels whether in sport, life sciences or engineering.
“I am incredibly proud of our people. They are and always have been our greatest asset.”
Damian Smyth, Head of Literature at the Arts Council, said: “Milkman is an extraordinary book and is rightly acclaimed as a breathtakingly original novel which is a thrill to read.
“Of course, while the Man Booker win recognises Anna Burns’s exceptional gifts, it also draws attention yet again to all the good writing Northern Ireland produces.
“Happily, the huge goodwill towards this writer and her great novel which we saw on social media when her win was announced, is a sign of how much good writing is valued in our culture.”
Judges have said they did not consider the current prominence of Northern Ireland or the gender equality debate in their deliberations, nor was the accessibility of the book to average readers “on the Tube”.
Milkman has been hailed as a book that “will last” by the chairman of the panel of judges, philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah, who said it was as useful for thinking about fractured societies in Lebanon and Syria as it was for the current gender debate in the West.
Appiah said at a ceremony at the Guildhall in London: “It speaks to the future. I think it’s going to last. I think this will help people to think about Me Too.”
Burns’ fourth novel uses a first-person voice rich in the conversational language of Northern Ireland, although the setting is never made explicit in the work.
Lack of paragraphing adds a challenge for the reader. Questioned on whether the work was too challenging for the average reader, Appiah defended the choice saying: “I have never thought that being readable on the Tube was an important feature of a novel.”