Philip Roth, the most decorated living American novelist, on Wednesday won the prestigious Man Booker International Prize, beating off competition from 12 other contenders, including India-born Canadian writer Rohinton Mistry. Roth, 78, one of the world's most prolific, celebrated and controversial writers won the biennial USD 97,500 award for a body of work stretching over more than half a century. He is the fourth recipient of the award. The prize is awarded for an achievement in fiction on the world stage. It is presented once every two years to a living author for a body of work published either originally in English or widely available in translation in the English language as opposed to the annual Man Booker Prize for Fiction, which is awarded for a single book.
The prize was first presented in 2005. Roth, who could not travel to Sydney to receive the award because of back problems, said it was a great honour to be recognised, Booker's website said. "One of the particular pleasures I've had as a writer is to have my work read internationally despite all the heartaches of translation that that entails," the Connecticut-based author said in a statement. "I hope the prize will bring me to the attention of readers around the world who are not familiar with my work. This is a great honour and I'm delighted to receive it." Roth is best known for his 1969 novel Portnoy's Complaint, and for his late-1990s trilogy comprising the Pulitzer Prize-winning 'American Pastora'l (1997), 'I Married a Communist' (1998), and 'The Human Stain' (2000). He won the National Book Award at 26 for his first book, 'Goodbye', 'Columbus in 1960', and in 1995 for 'Sabbath's Theatre'. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1998 for his novel, American Pastoral.
The prize was first presented in 2005. Roth, who could not travel to Sydney to receive the award because of back problems, said it was a great honour to be recognised, Booker's website said. "One of the particular pleasures I've had as a writer is to have my work read internationally despite all the heartaches of translation that that entails," the Connecticut-based author said in a statement. "I hope the prize will bring me to the attention of readers around the world who are not familiar with my work. This is a great honour and I'm delighted to receive it." Roth is best known for his 1969 novel Portnoy's Complaint, and for his late-1990s trilogy comprising the Pulitzer Prize-winning 'American Pastora'l (1997), 'I Married a Communist' (1998), and 'The Human Stain' (2000). He won the National Book Award at 26 for his first book, 'Goodbye', 'Columbus in 1960', and in 1995 for 'Sabbath's Theatre'. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1998 for his novel, American Pastoral.
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