(JTA) — A British Jewish author won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction for a comic book about what it means to be Jewish today.
Howard Jacobson, who was shortlisted for the prize this year for the first time, was named the winner of the $80,000 prize Tuesday night for "The Finkler Question."
The book is about "love, loss and male friendship, and explores what it means to be Jewish today," according to a news release from the prize committee.
Jacobson, 68, specializes in writing about what it means to be Jewish in Britain today. He was considered an outsider for the prize, which had six books on the shortlist.
"The Finkler Question" is the first comedy to win the Man Booker Prize, according to the news release. The award has been given annually for the past 40 years for a book written by a citizen of the British Commonwealth of the Republic of Ireland.
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