Olga Tokarczuk wins Man Booker International prize

Polish novelist, Olga Tokarczuk, become the first Polish writer to win Man Booker International prize for fiction.

Olga Tokarczuk

Tokarczuk with her translator Jennifer Croft have won £50,000 prize for an English translation of the novel „Flights”. Head judge Lisa Appignanesi said: „Tokarczuk is a writer of wonderful wit, imagination and literary panache. I think picking up ‘Flights’ will be an experience for anyone”.

Tokarczuk’s novel combines tales about travel with explorations of the human body. „We loved the voice of the narrative – it’s one that moves from wit and gleeful mischief to real emotional texture and has the ability to create character very quickly, with interesting digression and speculation” – said Appignanesi. For the 2018 award more than 100 novels were submitted.

In a press release, the Man Booker International describes “Flights”, as “a novel of linked fragments from the 17th century to the present day, connected by themes of travel and human anatomy”.