Booker Prize to Include Americans

Technically, U.S. was once part of the British empire, right? So this isn’t too much of a stretch? The British Man Booker Prize announced on Saturday that the 2014 prize would include American authors, a first for the 44-year-old prize. The prize previously had been awarded to works written in English from the one of the 54 countries in the British Commonwealth. “The organizers believe that excluding writers from America is anachronistic,” writes the Sunday Times. The winner of the Man Booker Prize receives a cash award, but more importantly, the prestige. Previous winners include Hilary Mantel, Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie, and Kazuo Ishiguro.