Paul Beatty wins the Man Booker Prize for fiction for 'The Sellout'

LONDON, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Paul Beatty was declared the winner of the 2016 Man Booker Prize for fiction Tuesday in London for his novel The Sellout.

Beatty, 54, is the first American author to win in the British prize's 48-year history. U.S. authors became eligible to compete in 2014.

The other 2016 shortlisted authors for the prestigious, literary award were Deborah Levy for Hot Milk, Graeme Macrae Burnet for His Bloody Project, Ottessa Moshfegh for Eileen, David Szalay for All That Man Is and Madeleine Thien for Do Not Say We Have Nothing.

"It's about how people perceive me, how I think people perceive me," Beatty said upon collecting the honor. "It's really grand that what's important to me is also important to others."

"The Sellout is a novel for our times. A tirelessly inventive modern satire, its humor disguises a radical seriousness. Paul Beatty slays sacred cows with abandon and takes aim at racial and political taboos with wit, verve and a snarl," Amanda Foreman, 2016 chair of judges, said in a statement.