Anna Burns has become the first Northern Irish winner of the Man Booker Prize for her experimental tale of sexual coercion, Milkman. Judges have said they did not consider the current prominence of Northern Ireland or the gender equality debate in their deliberations, nor was the accessibility of the book to average readers "on the Tube". The chairman said he was "resigned" to the novel being linked to the Me Too movement, but said the work was more universal. Belfast-born Burns' fourth novel uses a first-person voice rich in the conversational language of Northern Ireland, although the setting is never made explicit in the work. Crime writer Val McDermid, critic Leo Robson, writer and critic Jacqueline Rose and graphic novelist Leanne Shapton were the other judges for this year's prize.

Source: Evening echo October 16, 2018 21:00 UTC