Eighty-one-year-old M John Harrison has made history by becoming the first science fiction author to win the Booker Prize for his novel *The End of Everything*. The postapocalyptic story, set on a near-future Kent coast, follows Phillip Tennent and his aunt Marnie as they face mysterious shape-changing beings called i Ghetti. At 198 pages, it was the shortest book on the shortlist.
Harrison, who has published for six decades, overtakes Margaret Atwood as the oldest winner. The £50,000 prize was awarded at a ceremony in London. Judges, chaired by Mary Beard, praised the book’s blend of pessimism and optimism, calling it a “historic win.” Harrison, born in Rugby in 1945, has long been a respected figure in speculative fiction.
His win signals a shift in literary recognition for genre fiction.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing