LONDON: Paul Beatty became the first US author to win the Man Booker Prize — the world’s most prestigious English-language literary award — for his novel “The Sellout” late Tuesday.
The jury said the novel was a “shocking and unexpectedly funny” portrayal of his native Los Angeles, which employs satire to explore racial equality in a fictional neighborhood.
“I can’t tell you guys how long a journey this has been for me,” the writer, overwhelmed with emotion, said as he received the award from Prince Charles’s wife Camilla.
“In his equally affectionate and bitterly ironic portrait of the city and its inhabitants, Paul Beatty dodges inherited views of race relations, solutions or assumptions,” the jury said.
The author “presents through his beguilingly honest and well-intentioned hero an innocent’s view of his corrupt world.”
They said that the book brings “the unendurable status quo of present day US race relations to an absurdist conclusion, taking political correctness and self-loathing hostage en route.”
“The Sellout” is Beatty’s fourth novel and earlier this year it won the National Book Critics Circle Award in the United States.
The winner of the Man Booker receives £52,500, although the real prize is seen as the huge sales prompted the moment judges announce their decision.
It was only opened to non-Commonwealth authors from 2013 — a decision that was highly controversial in Britain.
No US author had won it until now, despite concerns that writers from the United States would dominate the prize.
Jury chair Amanda Foreman said nationality had nothing to do with the choice.
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As it hit the pitch, Catan leapt into action and started performing rudimentary CPR, pumping the bird’s ribcage.
“When I started the chest compressions, it began moving its legs. The more it moved, the more I kept going,” he said.
When it started breathing, he carried it off the pitch to medical staff, who took care of it.
By that evening, videos had gone viral on social media and Catan said his phone began ringing nonstop.
“We’d lost the match, so I wasn’t in a good mood. Then overnight the messages started coming in. We were shocked by how fast it spread,” he said.
“It’s been in the press in Brazil, Italy, America...”
Since the Istanbul match, Catan has received animal rights organization PETA’s “Hero to Animals award.”
Originally from the northern Turkish city of Tokat where he lives with his two cats, Catan had dreamed of playing football since childhood.
The story ended sadly, however, as the bird later died, according to a commentator who witnessed the incident.
Yurdum Spor is considering adding a seagull to its logo in tribute.
Paul Beatty first US author to win Man Booker Prize
Paul Beatty first US author to win Man Booker Prize
Turkish footballer hailed as hero after saving stunned seagull
- Gani Catan, captain of amateur club Yurdum Spor, raced across the pitch Sunday after a ball knocked the low-flying bird to the ground
- “I acted on instinct, or maybe I once saw someone do this on a dog or a cat,” he said
ISTANBUL: A Turkish amateur footballer has gone viral for saving a seagull’s life with CPR after it was struck down during an Istanbul match.
Gani Catan, a 32-year-old accountant and captain of amateur club Yurdum Spor, raced across the pitch Sunday after a ball knocked the low-flying bird to the ground.
“I acted on instinct, or maybe I once saw someone do this on a dog or a cat,” he told AFP a few days later as he watched the club’s youth teams train.
As it hit the pitch, Catan leapt into action and started performing rudimentary CPR, pumping the bird’s ribcage.
“When I started the chest compressions, it began moving its legs. The more it moved, the more I kept going,” he said.
When it started breathing, he carried it off the pitch to medical staff, who took care of it.
By that evening, videos had gone viral on social media and Catan said his phone began ringing nonstop.
“We’d lost the match, so I wasn’t in a good mood. Then overnight the messages started coming in. We were shocked by how fast it spread,” he said.
“It’s been in the press in Brazil, Italy, America...”
Since the Istanbul match, Catan has received animal rights organization PETA’s “Hero to Animals award.”
Originally from the northern Turkish city of Tokat where he lives with his two cats, Catan had dreamed of playing football since childhood.
The story ended sadly, however, as the bird later died, according to a commentator who witnessed the incident.
Yurdum Spor is considering adding a seagull to its logo in tribute.
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