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Author Enright wins Booker race Outsider Enright wins Booker race
(10 minutes later)
Irish author Anne Enright has won this year's Man Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in literature.Irish author Anne Enright has won this year's Man Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in literature.
The novelist's family saga The Gathering beat bookmakers' favourites Ian McEwan and Lloyd Jones to be named the best novel of the past 12 months.The novelist's family saga The Gathering beat bookmakers' favourites Ian McEwan and Lloyd Jones to be named the best novel of the past 12 months.
The other authors on the £50,000 prize's shortlist were Mohsin Hamid, Nicola Barker and Indra Sinha.The other authors on the £50,000 prize's shortlist were Mohsin Hamid, Nicola Barker and Indra Sinha.
Howard Davies, who chaired the judges, said Enright's book was "powerful, uncomfortable and, at times, angry." Howard Davies, who chaired the judges, said Enright's book was "powerful, uncomfortable and, at times, angry".
"The Gathering is an unflinching look at a grieving family in tough and striking language," he said. "We think she is an impressive novelist, we expect to hear a lot more from her."The Gathering is an unflinching look at a grieving family in tough and striking language," he said. "We think she is an impressive novelist, we expect to hear a lot more from her.
"The book is powerful, it pulls you along and it has an absolutely brilliant ending. It has one of the best last sentences of any novel I have ever read.""The book is powerful, it pulls you along and it has an absolutely brilliant ending. It has one of the best last sentences of any novel I have ever read."
Of the six authors in contention, only McEwan had been shortlisted in the past. He won in 1998 with Amsterdam. I was ready for anything - possibly anything except that Anne Enright
Enright was regarded as one of the outsiders for the award, and said she was surprised to win.
"I am still churning it through," she told BBC Radio 4. "Tomorrow, I'll wake up and go 'whoopee'.
"I was ready for anything - possibly anything except that," she added.
The Gathering is the fourth novel by the 45-year-old former television producer.
'Depressing'
It is about an Irish woman who is prompted by her brother's suicide to revisit three generations of bleak history of her large, dysfunctional family.
Enright said she did not mind her book being given descriptions like "depressing". "I love them," she said. "They're entirely fair. It's not a cheerful book."
Enright's previous novels include the Whitbread-nominated What Are You Like? in 2000. She has also released Making Babies, her light-hearted diaries of motherhood.
Of the six authors in contention for this year's Booker, only McEwan had even been shortlisted in the past. He won in 1998 with Amsterdam.