LINCOLN IN THE BARDO, internationally renowned short story writer George Saunders' first full-length novel, has been awarded the 2017 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. The 58-year-old New York resident, born in Texas, is the second American author to win the prize in its 49-year history. LINCOLN IN THE BARDO focuses on a single night in the life of Abraham Lincoln: an actual moment in 1862 when the body of his 11-year-old son was laid to rest in a Washington cemetery. Saunders told TIME magazine that he didn’t really want to write about Lincoln, "but was so captivated by this story I'd heard years ago about him entering his son's crypt. I thought of the book as a way of trying to instil the same reaction I'd had all those years ago."

First awarded in 1969, the Man Booker Prize is recognized as the leading prize for literary fiction written in English. The list of former winners features many of the literary giants of the last four decades: from Iris Murdoch to Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan to Hilary Mantel. The rules of the prize were changed at the end of 2013 to embrace the English language "in all its vigour, its vitality, its versatility and its glory," opening it up to writers beyond the UK and Commonwealth.

For more about The Man Booker Prize, go to http://www.themanbookerprize.com/
 

2017 Winner

• LINCOLN IN THE BARDO by George Saunders (US) (Bloomsbury)

2017 Shortlist

• 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster (US) (Faber & Faber)
• HISTORY OF WOLVES by Emily Fridlund (US) (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
• EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid (Pakistan-UK) (Hamish Hamilton)
• ELMET by Fiona Mozley (UK) (JM Originals)
• LINCOLN IN THE BARDO by George Saunders (US) (Bloomsbury)
• AUTUMN by Ali Smith (UK) (Hamish Hamilton)

2017 Longlist

• 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster (US) (Faber & Faber)
• DAYS WITHOUT END by Sebastian Barry (Ireland) (Faber & Faber)
• HISTORY OF WOLVES by Emily Fridlund (US) (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
• EXIT WEST by Mohsin Hamid (Pakistan-UK) (Hamish Hamilton)
• SOLAR BONES by Mike McCormack (Ireland) (Canongate)
• RESERVOIR 13 by Jon McGregor (UK) (4th Estate)
• ELMET by Fiona Mozley (UK) (JM Originals)
• THE MINISTRY OF UTMOST HAPPINESS by Arundhati Roy (India) (Hamish Hamilton)
• LINCOLN IN THE BARDO by George Saunders (US) (Bloomsbury)
• HOME FIRE by Kamila Shamsie (UK-Pakistan) (Bloomsbury)
• AUTUMN by Ali Smith (UK) (Hamish Hamilton)
• SWING TIME by Zadie Smith (UK) (Hamish Hamilton)
• THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD by Colson Whitehead (US) (Fleet)