Atwood and Evaristo share at this year's Booker Prize

Canadian author Margaret Atwood gets the award for Gilead's daughters and British author Bernardine Evaristo wins for Girl, woman, other.

"I'm the first black woman to win this award," said Bernardine Evaristo at the London awards ceremony on Tuesday night, a statement met by the audience's cheers.

The two authors may share the prize sum of £ 50,000, corresponding to SEK 620,000.

The Booker Prize rules say that the prize must not be shared, a rule that began to apply after the prize was last shared by two authors - 1992. But this year the jury saw it impossible to choose only one of the two authors' works and therefore chose to violate the rule.

- I thought I was too old and I don't need the attention. It would have been embarrassing if I had been here alone so I'm glad you are here too, said Margaret Atwood and turned to Bernardine Evaristo.

Gilead's daughters are Margaret Atwood's sequel to the bestseller The Handmaid's Story from 1985. This is the second time Atwood wins the Booker Prize, the first time being 2000 for The Blind Killer.

Girl, woman, other is Bernardine Evaristo's eighth novel and follows twelve black British women over a span of 100 years. Bernardine Evaristo has previously received a number of literary awards for his authorship.

The Booker Prize is awarded annually to the author who during the year wrote it, according to the jury, the best novel with English as the original language during the year.