He made history at the age of 81

Harrison during the award process; He beat out rivals on a shortlist that included writers such as Marlon James, Douglas Stuart, Elizabeth Strout, Luke Kennard and Rebecca Perry.

The nominated works ranged from an epic set in 1980s Kingston to a campus satire in modern-day London.

The jury panel created a shortlist of six books by eliminating 163 works submitted during the year-long evaluation process.

Jury President Mary Beard said at a press conference that Harrison's work stood out thanks to its "extraordinarily competent writing and also its enormous passion."

The work, which is Harrison's 13th novel, tells the story of Phillip Tennent, a beach collector on a windy English coast in the near future, and his free-spirited aunt Marnie, who suffers from dementia.

In the work, events develop as mysterious objects that people call "iGhetti" invade the beach.

In the book, an unspecified disaster plunges the characters into an eerie post-apocalyptic setting where the European continent appears to have disappeared.

The arrival of iGhetti objects that can imitate humans evokes interactions with artificial intelligence in the work.

Jury President Beard commented on the work: "One of the main emphasis of the book is that if such an apocalypse were to come, it would be incomprehensible."

Stating that the novel addresses today's realities, Beard said, "This is the politics of the present viewed through the lens of the future."

The novel, which consists of 198 pages in total, makes references to the Brexit process, the Covid-19 epidemic and the invasion of technology into daily life through dream-like chapters.

In Harrison's original narrative, which removes the boundaries between genres, it seems that the plot lags behind the atmosphere and the author's poetic style strengthens the feeling of gradual collapse.

Describing his novel, author Harrison said, "Current events determined the themes and satire. What happens when all our expectations and explanations for the world turn into an ongoing catastrophe, and we have to make a life despite it?" he said.

In a previous statement, the author stated that he was affected by the financial crisis in 2008 and that he wanted to write a novel about the "lack of explanation" in society.

Born in 1945 in Rugby, England, Harrison is known for his Viriconium series, which spanned the years 1971-1984, and his 2002 work "Light", the first volume of The Kefahuchi Tract trilogy.

Harrison, who is little known to a wide readership outside science fiction circles, was shortlisted by the British newspaper The Telegraph, saying "He's finally getting what he deserves." was met with comments.

The topic of artificial intelligence was on the jury's agenda during the selection process.

Referring to the object in the novel, Beard said, "Phillip has this object, and it is unclear to what extent this object has consciousness. It is not known exactly what it is."

In his statement to AFP, Jury President Beard stated that the boards that award literary awards will have to address the impact of artificial intelligence on the publishing and writing industry in the coming years.

Regarding the issue, Beard said, "It seems inevitable that this will come to the agenda in the future. You cannot bury your head in the sand on this issue."

Other members of the jury panel also noted that when creating the shortlist, they wanted to choose works that were distinctly human-made and that could not be imitated by artificial intelligence.

Last year, Hungarian-British author David Szalay won the Booker Prize, which rewards fiction works written in English by authors from any country and published in the past year, with his novel "Flesh".