The Booker's Man

A confession: one has never read any of the work of Albanian author Ismail Kadare.

But now, one will simply have to seek out some of the man's books: perhaps The Concert or Palace of Dreams. (Come back, Lotus!)

You see, he's just been awarded the inaugural Man Booker International Prize, with John Carey, chair of the judging panel, calling Mr Kadare "a universal writer in the tradition of storytelling that goes back to Homer".