Rushdie Wins Best of the Booker Prize

Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie, has won Best of the Booker prize, voted the public recently. The book, that was published in 1981, beat out other former Booker winners from the prize's 40-year history, reported the BBC.

The ceremony, held in London, was unattended by Sir Salman because of his current tour in the U.S., but he thanked them through a pre-recorded message. This is the third Booker for Rushdie, who also won the Booker of Bookers prize in 1993, according to the BBC. In his message, he said it was, "Marvellous news - I'm absolutely delighted and would like to thank all those readers around the world who voted for Midnight's Children."

Zafar and Milan, his sons, were in attendance at the awards ceremony at the South Bank Centre in London to receive the trophy for their father. Sir Salman said, "It's a wonderful alternative to have my real children accepting the prize on behalf of my imaginary children."

The voting closed at 1200 BST on the 8th of July, 7,801 people had voted via online and text, and 36 percent had voted for his book. On the shortlist for the prize were authors Peter Carey, Pat Barker, JM Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer and JG Farrell. A panel of experts including Victoria Glendinning and Mariella Frostrup chose the shortlist. Glendinning told BBC, "The readers have spoken - in their thousands. And we do believe that they have made the right choice."