Polish novelist Olga Tokarczuk wins Man Booker International Prize

London, May 23 : Olga Tokarczuk has become the first Polish writer to win the Man Booker International Prize.
Ms Tokarczuk took the £50,000 prize for her novel Flights. She will split the cash with translator Jennifer Croft.
The annual award goes to the best work of translated fiction from around the world.
Five judges picked Flights out of 108 submissions. The Man Booker International in a press release described Flights as “a novel of linked fragments from the 17th century to the present day, connected by themes of travel and human anatomy”.
Tokarczuk is a bestselling writer in Poland. In Flights, she meditates on travel and human anatomy, moving between stories including the Dutch anatomist who discovered the Achilles tendon when dissecting his own amputated leg, and the tale of Chopin’s heart as his sister transported it from Paris to Warsaw.
Lisa Appignanesi, who chaired the judges’ panel, called Ms Tokarczuk “a writer of wonderful wit, imagination and literary panache”.
“We loved the voice of the narrative – it’s one that moves from wit and gleeful mischief to real emotional texture and has the ability to create character very quickly, with interesting digression and speculation.”