LONDON: An Indian American novelist Akhil Sharma beat authors from around the world to win a prestigious British literary prize here created as a reaction to perceived weaknesses of the Man Booker prize. The Delhi-born author's semi-autobiographical story 'Family Life', described as a classic American story of a poor boy becoming rich, was up against seven other novels for the 2015 Folio Prize.
"From a shortlist of which we are enormously proud, Akhil Sharma's lucid, compassionate, quietly funny account of one family's life across continents and cultures, emerged as our winner," said writer William Fiennes, chair of the judging panel said here last night.
He described 'Family Life' as a "masterful novel of distilled complexity; about catastrophe and survival; attachment and independence; the tension between selfishness and responsibility."
"We loved its deceptive simplicity and rare warmth. More than a decade in the writing, this is a work of art that expands with each re-reading and a novel that will endure," he said of the 43-year-old author. Sharma, who is based in New York, was presented with the winner trophy by Jean-Marc Rath of the Folio Society along with a cheque for 40,000 pounds at a ceremony in London.
He described 'Family Life' as a "masterful novel of distilled complexity; about catastrophe and survival; attachment and independence; the tension between selfishness and responsibility."
"We loved its deceptive simplicity and rare warmth. More than a decade in the writing, this is a work of art that expands with each re-reading and a novel that will endure," he said of the 43-year-old author. Sharma, who is based in New York, was presented with the winner trophy by Jean-Marc Rath of the Folio Society along with a cheque for 40,000 pounds at a ceremony in London.
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