Scottish writer Douglas Stuart won the Booker Prize for fiction Thursday for Shuggie Bain, the story of a boy's turbulent coming of age in hardscrabble 1980s Glasgow. Stuart dedicated the book to own mother, who died when he was 16. Stuart first Scottish winner in over 25 yearsThough there have been many British winners of the Booker Prize, most of them English, Stuart is the first Scottish victor since James Kelman took the 1994 prize with How Late it Was, How Late — a book Stuart has called an inspiration. Looking forward: Booker Prize opens doorsThe Booker Prize usually brings the victor a huge boost in sales and profile, and often sparks a debate about the state of the English-language literary scene. That year's change sparked fears among some Britons that it would become a U.S-dominated prize, though that hasn't yet occurred.

Source: CBC News November 19, 2020 20:48 UTC