Man Booker International Prize 2013: Lydia Davis wins

 

This year's Man Booker International Prize has been won by the American writer Lydia Davis, who is best known for her short stories. 

Lydia Davis, an American author best known for her short stories, has won this year's Man Booker International Prize.

The winner was announced tonight at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, where seven of the ten shortlisted authors were in attendance.

The prize, worth £60,000, recognises one writer for his or her achievement in fiction. It is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is available in translation in the English language.

Previous winners include Philip Roth (2011), Alice Munro (2009), Chinua Achebe (2007) and Ismail Kadare (2005). The winner is chosen solely at the discretion of the judging panel. Unlike the UK Man Booker Prize for Fiction, publishers cannot submit authors' works for consideration.

Davis, 65, has had six collections of short stories published. She has also translated a number of French classics, including Flaubert's Madame Bovary, and has written one novel.