Atwood wins Booker prize

LONDON - Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood, three times the bridesmaid and finally the bride, won Britain's top Booker literary prize at the fourth attempt with her sweeping Thirties saga ``The Blind Assassin.''

``It is a very great honor and deeply gratifying,'' said Atwood, now assured of instant literary cult status and a place on bestseller lists around the world.

The Toronto novelist was quick to pay an amusing tribute to British bookmakers for turning the Booker contest into a literary horse race that helped popularize reading and make the prize front-page news

``This prize really took off when some genius put together the three words Booker, Book and Bookie. I think there is something deeply whimsical and appealing that the bookies all get together and read all the books,'' Atwood said.

``That is unlike anywhere else in the world. We tried to do it in Canada but the government thought it was too sinful.''

The bookmakers had certainly put their reading to good use -- Atwood was made 11-8 favorite to land the prize.

But Atwood was determined not to let the instant fame go to her head after landing the $29,980 prize.

``When you go to heaven and you arrive at the Pearly Gates and St. Peter asks you what you have done on earth, he is going to be actually interested in how well you have written and not in how many things you have got on the mantelpiece,'' she said.

Atwood's winning novel was picked from over 120 entries from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth.

- REUTERS