October 19, 2001	Friday	Shaba'an 1, 1422

LONDON, Oct 18: Australian writer Peter Carey on Thursday celebrated his success in winning the Booker Prize, Britain’s leading fiction award, for his novel “True History of the Kelly Gang”.

Carey, who has lived in New York since the 1980s, is only the second author to have won the prestigious prize twice after J.M. Coetzee, who took the award in 1983 for “The Life and Times of Michael K” and again in 1999 for “Disgrace”.

The prize purse is worth 21,000 pounds (30,400 dollars, 33,600 euros).

Carey, 58, had been the favourite to take the award. He previously landed the title in 1988 for his book “Oscar and Lucinda”.

Carey said he was surprised by his new success. “The truth is I’m delighted,” he told leading figures from the book industry gathered to hear the announcement of the winner at a formal dinner in London Wednesday evening.

The writer thanked his wife Alison, whom he said persuaded him to write the winning book when he was “foolishly trying to write a novel about New York which I love but know nothing about really”.

He finished with a plea to guests at the award not to desert the city, where thousands of people died in the terrorist attacks on September 11.

“We’d all like you to come visit us in New York because we really need you,” he said.

Judges had been locked in a room beforehand, thrashing out who they thought should take the prestigious title.

Chairman of the judges, Lord Kenneth Baker, said: “The judges chose Peter Carey’s “True History of the Kelly Gang” because it is a magnificent story of the early settler days in Australia, expressed through the unforgettable voice of a vilified man who came to stand for more than he knew.”

Carey had also been shortlisted for the prize in 1985 for his epic, “Illywhacker”.

The work which won him this year’s prize is a fictional account of Australia’s infamous Ned Kelly, portraying him as orphan, horse thief, bank robber, police killer and finally the nation’s answer to Robin Hood.

Carey was born in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, in February 1943. His father wanted him to follow him into the car business but he made a decision early on in his life to pen his way to success.

He first entered advertising which helped him launch his career as a novelist in the 1970s. He is married and has two sons.

Despite his love of New York, he has always resisted setting his stories or factual works in anywhere other than the land of his birth, saying: “Australia is my subject. I’ve accepted that and feel it to be right.”—AFP