...and in more ways than one. Hilary Mantel has written two novels in her Tudor trilogy and as of last night has now won two Booker prizes. An impressive feat and one that puts her into the history books rather than just writing them as she becomes the first British author and the first woman to win the award twice as well as the first author to win twice with such a brief interlude between the two (Wolf Hall won in 2009). She joins only two other authors who have achieved the same double-win, South African novelist, JM Coetzee and Australian writer, Peter Carey.
Last night's glamorous award ceremony held at London's Guildhall, complete with literary glitterati and those all-important ice sculptures, was televised live on BBC news. The hall, rather suitably (maybe we should have guessed the winner from the very beginning), played host to a number of Tudor trials including those of Archbishop Thomas Cramner and Anne Boleyn's cousin Henry Howard who would be sentenced to death after being accused by Henry VIII of trying to usurp the crown from Henry's son, Edward.
You can see the announcement for yourself here via the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19966267 and thankfully they have cut out much of Sir Peter Stothard's speech... I'm sorry, I'm mean - maybe it stems from the minor immature disappointment that it wasn't Booker panelist and Downton Abbey star, Dan Stevens...
You can read my review of the winning novel here.
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