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Associated Press

Paul Beatty becomes first American author to win the Man Booker Prize

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'The Sellout" by Paul Beatty
'The Sellout" by Paul Beatty
Courtesy of publisher

Paul Beatty has won the Man Booker Prize for fiction with "The Sellout," a stinging satire of race and class in the United States.

He is the first American novelist to take the prestigious literary award.

Judges said Beatty's provocative book was a satire to rank with the classics, and as timely as the evening news.

"The Sellout" centers on Bonbon, an African American man on trial at the Supreme Court for attempting to reinstate slavery and racial segregation.

Beatty, 54, was awarded the 50,000 pound ($61,000) prize Tuesday by Prince Charles' wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, during a black-tie ceremony at London's medieval Guildhall.

Founded in 1969 and previously open only to writers from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth, the Booker expanded in 2014 to include all English-language authors.