2017 Man Booker Prize winner George Saunders

The Man Booker Prize 2017

George Saunders is congratulated as the winning announcement is made

The 2017 Man Booker Prize was won by George Saunders for his polyphonic Lincoln in the the Bardo, proving perhaps that the dead can speak, eloquently. The short story writer’s first novel made him the second American to win the prize.

Saunders was already a lauded writer of short stories, novellas and essays when he won the prize with his, thus far, only novel. It tells of President’s Lincoln’s grief at the death of his son Willie and is set in the bardo, a state between death and reincarnation.

Having heard the Lincoln story, Saunders put off writing it for years until goaded into action by the fear of being (in his own words) ‘the guy whose own gravestone would read “Afraid to Embark on Scary Artistic Project He Desperately Longed to Attempt”’.

By
George Saunders
Published by
Bloomsbury
The winner of the 2017 Man Booker Prize. Narrated by a chorus of voices, George Saunders’ startlingly original novel is a thrilling exploration of death, grief and the possibilities of life.

The Shortlist

4321
History of Wolves
Exit West
Elmet
Autumn
Lincoln in the Bardo
Prize winner

The Longlist

The 2017 judges

The judging process

 

The panel of judges for the 2017 Man Booker Prize was chaired by Baroness Lola Young.

Other members of the judging panel included literary critic Lila Azam Zanganeh; Man Booker Prize shortlisted novelist, Sarah Hall; artist, Tom Phillips CBE RA; and travel writer, Colin Thubron CBE.

In the videos below, they discuss their experiences with creating the longlist and shortlist for 2017’s prize and how they came to a winner. You can also watch the moment the winner is announced at 2017’s ceremony.

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