Who is the oldest writer ever to win the Booker Prize?

M. John Harrison's The End of Everything is a dystopian satire set on England's southeast coast after a calamity brings alien entities to Britain. The judges chose it unanimously, and the award was presented at a ceremony in London.

The winner is 81 years old, the oldest the prize has ever honoured. He beat five other finalists, including Douglas Stuart and Marlon James, on his first nomination.

Harrison deliberately left out most explanation of how the catastrophe began, so readers share the disorientation of the characters. Judge Mary Beard put it this way: What he does is to say, when the catastrophe comes, you won't know what's happening.