Eleanor Catton

Eleanor Catton is a New Zealand author. Her second novel, "The Luminaries," won the 2013 Man Booker Prize.

In 2008, Catton was awarded a fellowship to the Iowa Writers' Workshop. She was described in 2009 as "this year's golden girl of fiction." In 2011, she was the Ursula Bethell Writer in Residence at the University of Canterbury.

Catton's debut novel, "The Rehearsal," was written as her Master's thesis and deals with reactions to an affair between a male teacher and a girl at his secondary school. Her followup novel, "The Luminaries," was published in 2013. It is set on the goldfields of New Zealand in 1866 and was shortlisted for and subsequently won the 2013 Man Booker Prize. The award made Catton, at the age of 28, the youngest author ever to win the Booker. She was previously, at the age of 27, the youngest author ever to be shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

At 832 pages, The Luminaries is the longest work to win the prize in its 45-year history. The chair of the judges, Robert Macfarlane commented "It's a dazzling work. It's a luminous work. It is vast without being sprawling." Catton was presented with the prize by the Duchess of Cornwall in October 2013.

In November 2013, Catton was also awarded the Canadian Governor General's Literary Award for fiction for "The Luminaries."