Polish novelist wins Man Booker International Prize

London, May 23 

Olga Tokarczuk, a 56-year-old bestselling author from Poland, has won the prestigious Man Booker International Prize for her novel “Flights,” which deals with travels in the 21st century and human anatomy.

A counterpart to the prestigious Man Booker Prize, the £50,000 award goes to the best work of translated fiction from around the world and is split equally between the writer and the translator.

“Flights” has been translated by Jennifer Croft and is published by Fitzcarraldo Editions, a tiny independent press. Tokarczuk and Croft were presented the award at a ceremony in Victoria and Albert Museum here on late Tuesday night. 

The entries for this year’s award received 108 submissions and Tokarczuk’s work was contending against two previous winners -- South Korea’s Han Kang and Hungary’s Laszlo Krasznahorkai. The shortlist also featured Spanish author Antonio Munoz Molina, Iraq’s Ahmed Saadawi and France’s Virginie Despentes. 

Tokarczuk is “a writer of wonderful wit, imagination and literary panache” who “has written a great many books that sound amazing, but which haven’t been translated yet,” commented Appignanesi. “Flights” is Tokarczuk’s only third work to be translated into English and she has become the first writer from Poland to be awarded the prize.

A well-known author in Poland, Tokarczuk is a recipient of numerous awards in her home country. She trained as a psychologist at the University of Warsaw. She has authored eight novels and two short-story collections. — IANS