For the first time in the Man Booker Prize’s 48-year history, an American author has won the coveted £50,000 literary award. Paul Beatty’s novel The Sellout is a satirical take on racial politics in the US and features a protagonist who wants to bring back slavery and segregation in order to assert his African American identity.

The Man Booker was originally only awarded to writers belonging to the UK, Ireland, and Commonwealth countries. Three years ago the rules were relaxed to allow writers of any nationality — as long as the work was in English — to participate.

The finalists included Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh (US), Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien (Canada), All That Man Is by David Szalay (Canada-UK), His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet (UK) and Hot Milk by Deborah Levy (UK).

While all contending books experienced a considerable surge in sales since the longlist was announced in July, of particular note is Burnet’s His Bloody Project, a tale of murder set in a Scottish crofting community. The book had sold just one copy at the time of being longlisted and according to statistics from Nielsen Bookscan it was projected to sell a total of 561 copies over its lifetime. However, by the time the shortlist was announced in September, it had sold nearly 25,000 copies.

Published in Dawn, Books & Authors, October 30th, 2016