A double Booker of many firsts

The annual award has gone to Margaret Atwood, its oldest winner, and Bernardine Evaristo, the first black woman and first black British author to win it

Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo have been jointly awarded the Booker Prize, with judges flouting the rules to name both winners.
Margaret Atwood (left) and Bernardine Evaristo were jointly awarded the Booker Prize for Fiction 2019 at the Guildhall in London on Monday. PHOTO: REUTERS
Olivia Ho
Assistant Life Editor
Updated
Oct 16, 2019, 12:49 PM
Published
Oct 16, 2019, 05:00 AM
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In a shocking turn, the Booker Prize for Fiction was awarded to not one but two novels, Margaret Atwood's The Testaments and Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other, on Monday.

Firsts abound in this double win. At 79, Atwood is the oldest winner of the annual award while Evaristo, 60, is the first black woman and first black British author to win it.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 16, 2019, with the headline A double Booker of many firsts. Subscribe

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