Canadian Margaret Atwood and Nigerian Bernardine Evaristo share the Poker Prize

The prestigious Booker Prize was awarded Monday night to Canadian writer Margaret Atwood for "The Wills" and British-Nigerian novelist Bernardine Ivaristo for "A Girl, a Woman and the Other."

Atwood won the prize (£ 50,000 / $ 62,000) for her book, a sequel to The Tale of the Maid, which turned into a television series in 2017 that was a hit and revived sales of the book, of which eight million copies were sold worldwide.

Jury Chairman Peter Florence praised the two winning novels, saying that they were brilliant, elegant and brilliant. "They give us insight and create characters that resonate with us, and they will resonate with us throughout the ages," he said, pointing out that Atwood is more politically urgent now than ever.

Atwood for the second time
Atwood, 79, won the Booker Prize in 2000 for her novel "The Killer of the Blind". "I was surprised a lot, I thought I was too old," said the writer. .

This year's award was shared by British-born Nigerian-born Bernardine Evaristo for "A Girl, a Woman and the Other," which tells the story of 12 women from black British families.

The Committee commended the novel as having given voice to people who are not always expressed, and divided Ivaristo's account into a number of chapters equal to the number of characters, who are mostly black women from different environments and generations tell their stories against the background of uninterrupted questions of skin color and discrimination in relation to culture.

Evaristo, 60, said she was the first black woman to win the award. "It's incredible to share the award with a legend," she added, referring to Margaret Atwood.

Two men and four women
The Booker Prize was launched in 1969 and is awarded annually to the author of "The Best English Novel Published in Britain".

The two novels said they were happy to share the prize, and Evaristo said the prize would help her repay the amount he borrowed, while Atwood revealed she would donate money to a charity.

Among the six finalists for the 2019 edition of the Poker Prize were four women.

American Lucy Elman was part of the race with the 1,000-page novel "Duck, Newburyport," which is about solo soloism for an Ohio housewife and highlights the "intricacies of frustrating family life."

Turkish writer Elif فقafak was also chosen in her country among the final candidates for her novel "10 minutes and 38 seconds in this strange world" about the memories of a perverted woman in Istanbul's underworld.

Salman Rushdie, 72, who won the prestigious award in 1981 for "Midnight Children," was also nominated this year for Quixote, a new version of the story of Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes set in America.

Until 2013, the Booker Prize was reserved for Commonwealth citizens, before it was opened to other English-speaking countries. Previously known as the Man Booker Prize, the award in January lost its partnership with British investment firm Man Group, which sponsored its activities.