LONDON: South African author Damon Galgut on Wednesday won the coveted Booker Prize for novel with “The Promise”, a novel about a white family reckoning with South Africa’s racist history.
Galgut was a favorite of British bookmakers for winning the £50,000 ($69,000) prize, his story of a troubled Afrikaner family and his broken promise to a black employee _ a story that depicts larger themes in South Africa’s transition from apartheid to .
Galgut took home the award for his third time as a finalist, for a book the judges called a “tour de force”. He was earlier selected for “The Good Doctor” and “In a Strange Room” in 2003. in 2010, but lost both times.
Despite his status as a favourite, Galgut said he was “shocked” to win.
Galgut said he was accepting the award on behalf of all the stories and untold stories heard and unheard from that remarkable continent of which I am a part.
He said, ‘Please keep listening to us _ there are more to come.’
Historian Maya Jasnoff, who chaired the judging panel, said “The Promise” is a deep, powerful and succinct book that combines “an extraordinary story, rich themes – the history of the past 40 years in South Africa”. An incredibly well crafted package.”
In Galgut’s ninth novel the members of black colored The family _ the word is Afrikaans for black _ is haunted by an unintentional promise to give its black maid, Salome, his home. The book is structured around a series of funerals over several decades; Galgut has said that he wants readers to fill the narrative gaps themselves.
He is the third South African novelist to win the Booker Prize, after Nadine Gordimer in 1974 and JM Coetzee, who won twice in 1983 and 1999.
“The Promise” was chosen among five other novels by three American authors: Richard Powers“Fearless,” is the story of an astrologer trying to care for his neurodivergent son; Patricia LockwoodBased on the social media novel “No One Is Talking About This” and Maggie Shipstead’s aviator saga “Great Circle”.
The other finalists were Sri Lanka Author Anuk Arudpragasam’s post-war story “A Passage North” and British/Somali writer Nadifa Mohammed‘The Fortune Men’ about a Somali man falsely accused of murder in 1950s Wales.
Jasnoff said that many of the shortlisted novels, including Galgut, depict the relationship between the past and the present.
“It’s a book that’s a lot about legacy and legacy,” she said of the winner. “It’s about change over a period of decades. And I think it’s a book that invites and pays to re-read and reflect on decades past.”
Established in 1969, the Booker Prize has a reputation for transforming writers’ careers and was originally open to British, Irish and Commonwealth writers. In 2014 the eligibility was expanded to all English novels published in the UK.
The jury won his list out of 158 novels submitted by the publishers. Only one British author, Mohamed, made it to the final six, a fact that has restarted debate in Britain about whether the prize is becoming US-dominated.
Last year also the only British author Douglas Stuart of Scotland was on the list dominated by the US in the final. He won the award for ‘Shuggy Bane’, a gritty and lyrical novel about a boy coming of age in 1980s Glasgow.
For a second year in a row, the coronavirus pandemic has thwarted the awards’ usual black-tie dinner ceremony at London’s medieval Guildhall. The winner was announced at a ceremony broadcast live on BBC radio and television.
Galgut was a favorite of British bookmakers for winning the £50,000 ($69,000) prize, his story of a troubled Afrikaner family and his broken promise to a black employee _ a story that depicts larger themes in South Africa’s transition from apartheid to .
Galgut took home the award for his third time as a finalist, for a book the judges called a “tour de force”. He was earlier selected for “The Good Doctor” and “In a Strange Room” in 2003. in 2010, but lost both times.
Despite his status as a favourite, Galgut said he was “shocked” to win.
Galgut said he was accepting the award on behalf of all the stories and untold stories heard and unheard from that remarkable continent of which I am a part.
He said, ‘Please keep listening to us _ there are more to come.’
Historian Maya Jasnoff, who chaired the judging panel, said “The Promise” is a deep, powerful and succinct book that combines “an extraordinary story, rich themes – the history of the past 40 years in South Africa”. An incredibly well crafted package.”
In Galgut’s ninth novel the members of black colored The family _ the word is Afrikaans for black _ is haunted by an unintentional promise to give its black maid, Salome, his home. The book is structured around a series of funerals over several decades; Galgut has said that he wants readers to fill the narrative gaps themselves.
He is the third South African novelist to win the Booker Prize, after Nadine Gordimer in 1974 and JM Coetzee, who won twice in 1983 and 1999.
“The Promise” was chosen among five other novels by three American authors: Richard Powers“Fearless,” is the story of an astrologer trying to care for his neurodivergent son; Patricia LockwoodBased on the social media novel “No One Is Talking About This” and Maggie Shipstead’s aviator saga “Great Circle”.
The other finalists were Sri Lanka Author Anuk Arudpragasam’s post-war story “A Passage North” and British/Somali writer Nadifa Mohammed‘The Fortune Men’ about a Somali man falsely accused of murder in 1950s Wales.
Jasnoff said that many of the shortlisted novels, including Galgut, depict the relationship between the past and the present.
“It’s a book that’s a lot about legacy and legacy,” she said of the winner. “It’s about change over a period of decades. And I think it’s a book that invites and pays to re-read and reflect on decades past.”
Established in 1969, the Booker Prize has a reputation for transforming writers’ careers and was originally open to British, Irish and Commonwealth writers. In 2014 the eligibility was expanded to all English novels published in the UK.
The jury won his list out of 158 novels submitted by the publishers. Only one British author, Mohamed, made it to the final six, a fact that has restarted debate in Britain about whether the prize is becoming US-dominated.
Last year also the only British author Douglas Stuart of Scotland was on the list dominated by the US in the final. He won the award for ‘Shuggy Bane’, a gritty and lyrical novel about a boy coming of age in 1980s Glasgow.
For a second year in a row, the coronavirus pandemic has thwarted the awards’ usual black-tie dinner ceremony at London’s medieval Guildhall. The winner was announced at a ceremony broadcast live on BBC radio and television.
.