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The novel 'Flights', which won the Man Booker International Prize in 2018, was written by:
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Answer: Option B — Olga Tokarczuk
Detailed Solution
"Flights" (Polish title "Bieguni") is a novel by the Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk, first published in Polish in 2007. Its English translation by Jennifer Croft won the Man Booker International Prize in 2018, which is shared equally between the author and the translator.
About the novel:
It is not a novel with a single plot. Instead, it is a collection of linked fragments, essays and stories about travel, movement, the human body and the modern restless way of life.
The Polish title refers to an old Slavic religious group, the "Bieguni" ("wanderers"), who believed that staying in one place made people vulnerable to evil.
Stories include those of a man whose wife and child vanish on a Croatian island, the heart of the composer Frédéric Chopin being carried back to Poland, and a Dutch anatomist.
About Olga Tokarczuk:
She was born in 1962 in Sulechów, Poland, and trained as a psychologist.
She received the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2018 (announced in 2019, because the 2018 award was postponed), "for a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life".
Her other works include "Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead" (2009) and "The Books of Jacob" (2014), a long historical novel.
International Booker Prize (for translated fiction) winners include:
2016: Han Kang (South Korea), "The Vegetarian". Han Kang won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024.
2018: Olga Tokarczuk (Poland), "Flights".
2019: Jokha Alharthi (Oman), "Celestial Bodies", the first Arabic-language winner.
2022: Geetanjali Shree (India), "Tomb of Sand" (translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell).
2025: Banu Mushtaq (India), "Heart Lamp" (translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi).
Annie Ernaux (France) won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2022.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Han Kang won for "The Vegetarian" (2016).
- ✗Jokha Alharthi won for "Celestial Bodies" (2019).
- ✗Annie Ernaux is a French writer who won the Nobel Prize in 2022.
Quick tip
Remember: "Flights" = Olga Tokarczuk (Poland; International Booker 2018; Nobel Prize for 2018); International Booker winners from India = Geetanjali Shree (2022) and Banu Mushtaq (2025).
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Books & Authors — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Books & Authors, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers famous books and their authors, including ancient Indian texts, works of the freedom struggle, classic and modern literature, autobiographies of famous people, and recently published books by well-known personalities. Questions usually name a book and ask for its author, or the other way round. Ancient and historical books, such as Arthashastra (Kautilya), Indica (Megasthenes) and Gitanjali (Rabindranath Tagore), are tested most often. Autobiographies are another favourite, so learn titles such as 'My Experiments with Truth' (Mahatma Gandhi) and 'Wings of Fire' (A. P. J. Abdul Kalam). Practise the books and authors questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.