Booker Prize 2019 voor Margaret Atwood en Bernardine Evaristo

De Booker Prize werd voor het eerst uitgereikt in 1969 en is sindsdien uitgegroeid tot de bekendste literaire prijs voor Engelstalige literatuur. Eerder wonnen onder anderen Anna Burns (2018 - alle boeken die destijds genomineerd werden, zijn inmiddels vertaald), George Saunders (2017), Paul Beatty (2016), Marlon James (2015), Richard Flanagan (2014), Eleanor Catton (2013), Hilary Mantel (2012, 2009) en Julian Barnes (2011) de prijs.

Het is de derde keer dat de Booker-Prizejury twee winnaars aanwijst. Atwood is met 79 de oudste winnaar van de prijs, en ze wint hem voor de tweede keer (in 2000 met The Blind Assassin); Evaristo is de eerste zwarte winnares, met haar achtste roman. Fleur Speet besprak Atwoods roman voor Athenaeum.nl. De jury:

‘This ten month process has been a wild adventure. In the room today we talked for five hours about books we love. Two novels we cannot compromise on. They are both phenomenal books that will delight readers and will resonate for ages to come.’

Over Atwoods boek:

‘It is a savage and beautiful novel that speaks to us today with conviction and power. The bar is set unusually high for Atwood. She soars.’

Voor Evaristo's boek hadden ze meer woorden nodig:

‘A must-read about modern Britain and womanhood. This is an impressive, fierce novel about the lives of black British families, their struggles, pains, laughter, longings and loves. With a dazzling rhythm, Evaristo takes us on a journey of intergenerational stories, moving through different spaces and heritages: African, Caribbean, European. Her 12 main characters manifest the highs and lows of our social life. They are artists, bankers, teachers, cleaners, housewives, and are at various stages of womanhood, from adolescence to old age. Her style is passionate, razor-sharp, brimming with energy and humour. There is never a single moment of dullness in this book and the pace does not allow you to turn away from its momentum. The language wraps the reader by force, with the quality of oral traditions and poetry. This is a novel that deserves to be read aloud and to be performed and celebrated in all kinds of media.’

Dit was de shortlist:

• Margaret Atwood, The Testaments
• Lucy Ellmann, Ducks, Newburyport
• Bernadine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other
• Chigozie Obioma, An Orchestra of Minorities
• Salman Rushdie, Quichotte
• Elif Shafak, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

De romans van Atwood en Rushdie zijn in Nederlandse vertaling verschenen.