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South African writer Damon Galgut
Photo: TOM NICHOLSON / REUTERS
The renowned British Booker Literature Prize this year goes to the South African playwright and writer Damon Galgut for his novel "The Promise".
The novel, which tells from the late apartheid era in South Africa to the presidency of Jacob Zuma, traces the increasing disintegration of a white family on a farm outside Pretoria.
"I am really deeply and humbly grateful for it," said the 57-year-old at the award ceremony in London on Wednesday.
The title "The Promise" refers to a promise made to a black servant of the family that she would keep the house and the land on which she lives.
"I think a lot of us had great expectations for the future," Galgut told the BBC.
The small piece of land represents just one of many disappointed promises.
The jury chairwoman Maya Jasanoff praised the novel's "unbelievable originality and fluency", which was "really close to historical and metaphorical meaning".
The Booker Prize, established in 1969, honors the best English-language novel each year.
The winner receives prize money equivalent to 59,000 euros.
The Booker Prize was first awarded in 1969.
Before 2014, only books by authors from the United Kingdom, Ireland or the Commonwealth of Nations could be selected.
Since opening to all English-language novels, it has won titles by American authors twice.
In 2020 the award went to New York-based Scottish Douglas Stuart for his novel "Shuggie Bain".
oka / AFP