Australian writer handed Booker

LONDON. Australian writer Richard Flanagan became the winner of the 2014 The Man Booker Prize for the novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North. On the evening of October 14th, the award ceremony was held at the Guildhall in London. The Flanagan Award was received from the hands of Prince Charles’s wife, Duchess of Camille of Cornwall.

It should be noted that Richard Flanagan, not being a citizen of Great Britain, Ireland or a representative of a state that is part of the British Commonwealth of Nations, became the first Australian writer to receive a Booker. The fact is that the previously literary prize The Man Booker Prize was awarded exclusively to writers from the above countries. In the same year, the organizers decided to change the rules and reward the English-speaking authors whose works were published in the UK.

Laureate Richard Flanagan is 53 years old and is no longer new to the literary world. Six novels came out from under his pen, and over the last one, which was judged by the booker jury, the author worked for about twelve years. The book Narrow Road to the Far North narrates the construction of a railway between Burma and Thailand, which was built during World War II and is popularly called the "road of death." During the construction of the line, about twenty thousand prisoners of war and 90 thousand Asian convicts died. While working on the work, Flanagan used not only historical literature and documents from archives, but also took as a basis the stories of his father, who was forced to take part in the construction of that railway.

At the award ceremony, Richard Flanagan received an award and a check for 50 thousand pounds. Other finalists who were in the top five shortlisted for Booker were also awarded £ 2,500 checks to each.

Svetlana Korableva © Gallerix.ru