The 2019 Booker Prize has been split between Margaret Atwood for The Testaments and Bernardine Evaristo for Girl, Woman, Other.
Judges of the prestigious award, which comes with a £50,000 prize and literary acclaim, "explicitly flouted" the rules by declaring a tie. The two authors will split the prize money.
The Booker rules state that the prize must not be divided, but the judges insisted they "couldn't separate" the two works.
At 79, Atwood is now the oldest ever Booker winner, while Evaristo has become the first black woman to win the prize.
Atwood's career began in the early 1960s with poetry collections. She also began writing novels, and a prolific output lasting decades has continued since.
While teaching in Toronto, she continued to write - and in the mid 1980s published critical hits Bodily Harm and The Handmaid's Tale, which was nominated for the Booker in 1986.
She first won the prestigious award in 2000 for her novel The Blind Assassin.
Atwood reached an even larger international audience when The Handmaid's Tale was adapted for the 2017 TV series, providing visual cues for numerous protest movements which referenced the show.
The author has penned more than 40 works, and even dabbled in comic books.
Atwood was born in Ottawa in Canada and began writing as a child.
Fellow winner Evaristo was born in Woolwich, south London, holds a PhD from Goldsmith's, and continues to reside in the capital.
She has written eight works, and produced poetry, verse fiction, literary criticism and essays.
Of Anglo-Nigerian descent, she has shed light on the lives of modern British women, taking an interest in the African diaspora.
Several of her works, including The Emperor's Babe and Hello Mum, have been adapted into BBC Radio 4 plays.
