Scottish writer wins Booker Prize

LONDON — Scottish writer Douglas Stuart won the Booker Prize for fiction for “Shuggie Bain,” a novel about a boy’s turbulent coming of age in hardscrabble 1980s Glasgow that was turned down by 32 publishers before being picked up.

Stuart, 44, won the prestigious 50,000 pound ($66,000) award for his first published novel, the product of a decade of work. He was the only U.K.-born author on a U.S.-dominated list of six finalists for the prize, which is open to Englishlanguage novels from around the world.

A former fashion designer who is based in New York, Stuart drew on his own experiences growing up gay in economically ravaged Thatcher-era Glasgow for the story of young Shuggie and his relationship with his alcoholic mother, Agnes. Stuart dedicated the book to his ownmother, who died when he was 16.

“Mymother is in every page of this book, and without her I wouldn’t be here andmy work wouldn’t be here,” said Stuart, who declared himself “absolutely stunned” to win.

The novel’s sweep, vivid characters and unflinching look at poverty have been compared to the work of Charles Dickens, but Stuart said it was rejected repeatedly before being published by Grove Atlantic in the U.S. and Picador in the U.K.

Stuart told reporters after his victory that publishers praised his book but “didn’t know how to connect it with readers.”

Publisher and editor Margaret Busby, who chaired the judging panel, said “Shuggie Bain” was intimate and gripping, challenging but hopeful in its exploration of Shuggie’s burgeoning sexuality and the complex but loving relationship between mother and son.

“It’s hard to come away from that book without thinking ‘This is going to be a classic,’ ” she said.

In contrast to last year, when deadlocked judges split the prize between

Canada’s Margaret Atwood for “The Testaments” and Britain’s Bernardine Evaristo for “Girl, Woman, Other,” this year’s decision was quick and unanimous.

Busby said “there were no tantrums” among the judges, who included poet Lemn Sissay and thriller writer Lee Child.

Stuart was chosen froma shortlist dominated by U.S.-based writers from diverse backgrounds. American contenders included “The Shadow King” by Maaza Mengiste; Diane Cook’s dystopian tale “The NewWilderness”; Avni Doshi’s India-set motherdaughter tale “Burnt Sugar”; and Brandon Taylor’s campus novel “Real Life,” which explores racismand homophobia in academia.