Paul Beatty’s biting satire about a young man’s isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court
By Paul Beatty
The Man Booker Prize 2016
The first American winner of the prize and the second in a row for the small independent publisher Oneworld. Paul Beatty triumphed with a satire about race relations in the US.
The Sellout, which took five years to write, is a novel shot through with humour – even though its protagonist is on trial for trying to reinstate slavery and segregation. Beatty, a poetry-slam champion and editor of a book on African-American humour, later confessed to feeling concerned that the comedy might obscure his serious theme about racial injustice.
He needn’t have worried; in the light of Black Lives Matter, the novel looks ever more prescient.
Winner The Booker Prize 2016
- By
- Paul Beatty
- Published by
- Oneworld Publications
Paul Beatty’s biting satire about a young man’s isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court
The shortlist
Deborah Levy explores the strange and monstrous nature of motherhood in this hypnotic tale of female sexuality and power
By Deborah Levy
Graeme Macrae Burnet’s historical novel tells the story behind a fictional 19th-century triple murder in a remote crofting community
In this taut psychological thriller from Ottessa Moshfegh, a young woman is pushed into complicity in a crime that surpasses her wildest imaginings
David Szalay discerns a shared longing in the hearts of nine ludicrous and inarticulate, shocking and despicable, vital, pitiable, hilarious men
By David Szalay
Madeleine Thien’s gripping evocation of the persuasive power of revolution and its effects on personal and national identity
The longlist
The 2016 judges
