‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ wins 2017 Man Booker Prize

CAIRO – 18 October 2017: The winner of this year’s edition of London’s Man Booker Prize is American novelist George Saunders, awarded for his haunting short story "Lincoln in the Bardo," which was published this year.

Praised as an "utterly original novel" by the judges, "Lincoln in the Bardo" follows from a real life incident that happened to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln when he visited the grave of his 11-year-old son in 1862.

Here, the story takes the perspective of Lincoln’s departed son in the afterlife, with elements taken from Buddhist mythology, as he waits for his father’s return. He is accompanied by various other spirits of the dead, all unable to let go of their lives. The story is written entirely as a dialogue.

The title refers to the Tibetan Buddhist concept of "Bardo," which is the state between life and death. The story’s seamless combination of historical figures and mystical spiritual background enabled a unique contrast that grounded the novel in reality.

Saunders was awarded $66,000 by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. The 58-year-old Texas-born former oil-industry engineer is the second American author to have won the prize. Saunders had previously been awarded the Folio Prize back in 2014 for his short story anthology "Tenth of December."