Paul Beatty’s novel The Sellout has become the first book by an American to win the Man Booker Prize. His novel was shortlisted with five others, and his win was announced by the organization on Tuesday, October 25. The prize comes with a $60,000 award.

Until 2014, the prize was only open to writers in British Commonwealth countries, and Irish and Zimbabwean citizens.

Announcing the award, Amanda Foreman, 2016 Chair of judges, commented, “The Sellout is a novel for our times. A tirelessly inventive modern satire, its humour disguises a radical seriousness. Paul Beatty slays sacred cows with abandon and takes aim at racial and political taboos with wit, verve and a snarl.”

The Sellout is “an outrageously funny satire of American race relations. The protagonist, a black man whose father was killed by police, wants to reinstitute segregation in his California town. He eventually lands before the Supreme Court in a bizarre case involving slavery,” writes Ron Charles.

Earlier this year, The Sellout also won the National Book Critics Circle Award.

The Paris Review interviewed Paul Beatty about the novel in May 2015.

Photo Credit: Hannah Assouline