But the panel awarding this year's Booker Prize went to enormous lengths to provoke controversy last night – by insisting the coveted literary award was shared. A remarkable rebellion by the five judges saw the £50,000 prize for fiction split between Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo. The plots, critics' thoughts and odds of the contenders for the Booker Prize award are pictured before tonight's ceremonyThe judges were unable to choose between the two after they initially spent three and a half hours deliberating. They told Gaby Wood, the Booker Prize's literary director, who refused a request for the award be shared. Last year's winner was Northern Irish author Anna Burns for Milkman, a novel following a teenage girl during the Troubles.

Source: Daily Mail October 14, 2019 20:57 UTC