Image by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images

By Talya Zax June 14, 2017

Israeli novelist David Grossman and his translator, Jessica Cohen, have won the 2017 Man Booker International Prize for “A Horse Walks Into a Bar.”

Both Grossman and Amos Oz were finalists for the prize. The honor comes with a cash award of £50,000, shared equally between author and translator.

Its most recent winners were Hungarian novelist and his translator George Szirtes.

“It’s a short book, at times the main character is challenging,” said Nick Barley, chair of this year’s judges, in a video released by the Booker Foundation. “But what David Grossman achieves with this book is absolutely remarkable.”

Speaking to the Forward this spring, Cohen offered thoughts on why “A Horse Walks Into a Bar” was a powerful novel.

“Initially when you see the title, and you read the first couple pages, you think ‘Oh, he’s doing something light, this is going to be fun,’” she said. “And then you get sucked into this black hole of humanity. This is not going to be all about telling jokes, not that telling jokes is easy. It’s deceptively light and deceptively humorous.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount