'Curious Incident' wins Whitbread prize
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Haddon won the overall award for his book about an autistic teenager.
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LONDON, England (AP) -- A best-selling novel about an autistic 15-year-old boy won Britain's Whitbread Book of the Year award on Tuesday.
"The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time," by Mark Haddon, tells the story of a teenager with a form of autism called Asperger's syndrome.
"We see through the boy the chaos of the adult world around him," said Joan Bakewell, the chair of the judging panel. "One of the judges said the book used disability to throw a light upon the world."
The novel was entered in the Whitbread's adult novel category, but was published simultaneously as a work of children's and adult fiction.
Haddon was awarded a $45,500 prize for his work.
Haddon had already won the Whitbread Novel of the Year award. Tuesday's award was as overall winner, defeating books in four other categories.
"Landing Light" by Don Paterson had won for poetry, "The Fire-Eaters" by David Almond had won for children's books, "Orwell: The Life" by D.J. Taylor had won for biography, and "Vernon God Little" by D.B.C Pierre had won the first novel prize.
The annual Whitbread Book Awards were established in 1971 and are Britain's longest-running literary competition. They are open to residents of Britain and the Republic of Ireland.
Copyright 2004 The
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