South African novelist Damon Galgut wins 2021 Booker Prize for 'The Promise'
Nov 04, 2021
London [UK], November 4 : South African novelist Damon Galgut on Wednesday won the 2021 Booker Prize for his novel 'The Promise'.
The novelist, shortlisted for two of his previous books, received one of the world's most prestigious literary awards for his cutting depiction of a white family in post-apartheid South Africa, reported The New York Times (NYT).
Galgut had been shortlisted twice before, in 2003 and 2010.
The Booker judges announced Galgut the winner, praising his novel for its "unusual narrative style that balances Faulknerian exuberance with Nabokovian precision, pushes boundaries and is a testament to the flourishing of the novel in the 21st century", reported NYT.
"The Promise," Galgut's ninth book, had already won acclaim among critics for its menacing and bleakly funny portrait of the Swart family, descendants of Dutch settlers who are desperately holding onto their farm and status in post-apartheid South Africa.
"The Promise" was one of six shortlisted novels and stood out for its artistry and scope, judges said.
American authors once again dominated the shortlist this year, accounting for three of the finalists. They were Richard Powers for "Bewilderment," Maggie Shipstead for "Great Circle," and Patricia Lockwood for "No One Is Talking About This", reported NYT.
The other authors were the Sri Lankan writer Anuk Arudpragasam for "A Passage North," about the lingering trauma from his country's civil war, and the British and Somali novelist Nadifa Mohamed for "The Fortune Men," about a Somali man falsely accused of murder in Wales.
The Booker Prize is awarded annually to the best novel written in English and published in Britain or Ireland, and was selected this year from 158 submitted novels.
Last year, the award went to Douglas Stuart for "Shuggie Bain," his autobiographical debut novel about growing up in Scotland with an alcoholic mother.
In 2019, breaking with tradition, the prize was awarded jointly to Bernardine Evaristo and Margaret Atwood.
Since 2014, the prize has been open to any novel written in English and published in Britain. Previously, it was limited to writers from Britain, Ireland, Zimbabwe and the Commonwealth.
Galgut is the third writer from South Africa to win the Booker, following Nadine Gordimer and JM Coetzee, who has won twice.
