28-year-old Eleanor Catton was awarded the £50,000 prize by the Duchess of Cornwall on Tuesday night
28-year-old Eleanor Catton was awarded the £50,000 Man Booker Prize by the Duchess of Cornwall on Tuesday night, making her the youngest ever author to scoop the prize for her novel 'The Luminaries'.
The New Zealand-native, who was originally born in Canada, won the prestigious prize for her Victorian mystery page-turner set in the 19th century, which centres around the famous New Zealand gold rush.
When her name was called out at London’s Guildhall, Eleanor told BBC reporters: ‘It almost seemed like the rest of the room ceased to exist.’
At 832 pages, Eleanor’s literary masterpiece – which has been described as a ‘Kiwi Twin Peaks’ - has also been named as the longest novel ever to win in the prize’s 45-year history.
‘It's a dazzling work. It's a luminous work. It is vast without being sprawling,’ chair of the judges Robert Macfarlane said of the book.
‘You begin it and you think you are in the clutches of a big baggy monster,’ he continued, before adding that what came next was an ‘accelerating, quickening tilt to the narrative.’ We can't wait to read it!
Since being published on September 5, 'The Luminaries' has now been made available in 12 different languages.
Eleanor, who has an MA in fiction writing, is no stranger to literary accolade, either – her debut novel, 'The Rehearsal', was also shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Dylan Thomas prize.
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