Short-Story Writer Davis Wins Booker International Prize
U.S. writer Lydia Davis, best known for her unconventionally short stories, on Wednesday claimed the prestigious Man Booker International Prize at a London ceremony.
The New York based author beat off competition from the nine other authors who made the shortlist to win the award, which honors "achievement in fiction on the world stage".
While Davis writes conventional short stories, others consist of just one paragraph or sentence.
One of these stories, A Double Negative, reads: "At a certain point in her life, she realizes it is not so much that she wants to have a child as that she does not want not to have a child, or not to have had a child."
The £60,000 ($90,000, 70,000 euros) prize is presented every two years and is awarded to a living author for work published originally in English or available in translation in English.
Christopher Ricks, chair of the judging panel, paid tribute to Davis's ability to "realize things down to the very word or syllable".
The Man Booker website quoted one of her other stories: "I was recently denied a writing prize because they said I was lazy," it reads.
"Well, not any more," said the website.
Source: Agence France Presse
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