George Saunders was awarded the 2017 Man Booker Prize for his novel Lincoln in the Bardo. This is the second year in a row that the prize, only recently including Americans and anyone writing in English, has gone to an author from the United States. Last year, The Sellout by Paul Beatty received the prize.

“The form and style of this utterly original novel, reveals a witty, intelligent, and deeply moving narrative,” said Lola Young, Chair of the 2017 judges panel. “This tale of the haunting and haunted souls in the afterlife of Abraham Lincoln’s young son paradoxically creates a vivid and lively evocation of the characters that populate this other world. Lincoln in the Bardo is both rooted in, and plays with history, and explores the meaning and experience of empathy.”

Saunders remarked on his win: “For me, the nice thing is that the book is hard, and it’s kind of weird and it’s not a traditional novel. I didn’t do it just to be fancy, but because there was this emotional core I could feel, and that form was the only way I could get to it.”

Lincoln in the Bardo, telling the story of Abraham Lincoln visiting his son Willie’s crypt in 1862 where Lincoln communes with his son’s and others’ ghosts, is George Saunders’ first novel. Saunders will be the keynote speaker at the next AWP Conference & Bookfair in Tampa, Florida.

Photo Credit: Chloe Aftel