Anna Burns Wins 50th Man Booker Prize for 'Milkman'

London, October 17: Northern Irish writer Anna Burns was announced the winner of the 50th Man Booker Prize for Fiction for her book titled 'Milkman'.

Burns, who was born in Belfast and lives in East Sussex, drew on the experience of Northern Ireland during the Troubles to write Milkman. Her first acclaimed novel, No Bones, was also set in this period.

Set in an unnamed city, Milkman focuses on the middle sister as she makes her way through rumours, social pressures and politics in a tight-knit community. Burns shows the dangerous and complex outcome that can happen to a woman coming of age in a city at war. Milkman is, thus, a tale of gossip and hearsay, silence and deliberate deafness. It is the story of inaction with enormous consequences.

In an interview with the Man Booker Prize website, Burns said, "The book didn't work with names. It lost power and atmosphere and turned into a lesser - or perhaps just a different - book. In the early days I tried out names a few times, but the book wouldn't stand for it. The narrative would become heavy and lifeless and refuse to move on until I took them out again. Sometimes the book threw them out itself."

The 56-year-old has, so far, authored two books, namely No Bones and Little Constructions, and is the author of the novella, Mostly Hero. In 2001, Burns won the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize, and was shortlisted for the 2002 Orange Prize for Fiction.

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