A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman Wins The Man Booker International Prize 2017

A Horse Walks Into a Bar, written by David Grossman, translated by Jessica Cohen and published by Jonathan Cape, was announced as the winner of the 2017 Man Booker International Prize last night at a ceremony at the V&A. Celebrating the finest global fiction in translation, the prize sees both the author and translator winning £25,000 each. They have also received a further £1,000 each for being shortlisted.

The winner was selected from 126 books by a panel of five judges, chaired by Nick Barley and consisting of Daniel Hahn, an award-winning writer, editor and translator; Elif Shafak, a prize-winning novelist and one of the most widely read writers in Turkey; Chika Unigwe, author of four novels including On Black Sisters’ Street; and Helen Mort, a poet who has been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize and the Costa Prize, and has won aFoyle Young Poets of the Year Award five times.

Nick Barley, chair of the 2017 judging panel, commened:

‘David Grossman has attempted an ambitious high-wire act of a novel, and he’s pulled it off spectacularly. A Horse Walks into a Bar shines a spotlight on the effects of grief, without any hint of sentimentality. The central character is challenging and flawed, but completely compelling. We were bowled over by Grossman’s willingness to take emotional as well as stylistic risks: every sentence counts, every word matters in this supreme example of the writer’s craft.’