The Underground Railroad, a fantastic reimagining of US slavery, takes the UK’s pre-eminent science fiction prize a day after being longlisted for the Man BookerFresh from being nominated for the 2017 Man Booker prize, Colson Whitehead’s alternative history of slavery in the US, The Underground Railroad, has won the UK’s top honour for science fiction, the Arthur C Clarke award. The Underground Railroad has already won Whitehead a Pulitzer and the National Book Award, and is longlisted for the Man Booker prize. But on Thursday night, the novel was named the 31st winner of the Arthur C Clarke award for science fiction, extolled by chair of judges Andrew M Butler as an “intensely moving” read. Whitehead said that landing the £2,017 prize – the winnings are adjusted annually to match the year – was wonderful, and that The Underground Railroad “could not exist without the toolkit of fantastic literature”. “Way back when I was 10 years old, it was science fiction and fantasy that made me want to be a writer,” said Whitehead, whose previous novel Zone One featured zombies.

Source: The Guardian July 27, 2017 19:52 UTC