• Margaret Atwood. "Writing is an act of hope"
  • The Paper Sphere.Allanto exclusive of 'The testaments', by Margaret Atwood
  • Society. Thus the feminism of 'The Maid's Tale' appropriated

The jury of the Booker Prize has decided to skip this year the strict rules of the most prestigious literary award in English and for the first time award the ex aequo prize , distributing it among the favorite, Margaret Atwood, for The Wills, the sequel to The Tale of the maid; and Bernardine Evaristo, for Girl, Woman, Other , a novel described as "fusion fiction" which, exploring the stylistic limits of lyrical prose, follows in the footsteps of twelve characters, primarily black women in the modern United Kingdom.

The apologetic announcement of the president of the jury, Peter Florence, that the six members of the panel wanted "desperately" that the two won generated a collective sigh of astonishment and, at the same time, bewildered in the majestic hall of the Guidhall London complex, whose 800 Years of history witnessed the extraordinary victory of works dominated by female characters, written by women, one of them, the first black to gain the distinction.

The unusual decision p one to the Booker in tune with the current prevailing in the post-me too era, granting a preponderant voice to authors with an explicit commitment to the empowerment of women and their necessary political role in today's world. Both the dystopian society reflected in The Testaments, and the exploration of the broad spectrum of femininity in Girl, Woman, Other subvert the assumptions of the female universe and offer a polyhedral portrait with ramifications in contemporary reality.

At 79, Atwood becomes, with his second Booker, the most veteran winner and, along with Iris Murdoch, the one with the most nominations, six; while Evaristo, of Nigerian origin and born in London, achieves victory in his first nomination, which came with his eighth novel.

Their joint triumph instils a new push for the Booker Prize, an award weighed down by the controversial decision in 2014 to accept American writers, which had led to a controversial American dominance. In addition, its prestige seemed affected by a certain conventionalism, a shadow that was shaken this year with a list that, even with heavy weights such as Margaret Atwood or Salman Rushdie, offers a remarkable plurality in both narrative bets, as well as the authors' diversity.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • London
  • literature

The final interview Alejandra Parejo: "Orders are still given to women. And it can't be"

A VILLANO IN MADRID Peter Handke in Linares

United Kingdom A journalist accuses Boris Johnson of "touching his thighs" under the table