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The 44-year-old Stuart, who wins 50,000 pounds
($66,000) and is only the second Scot to have won the
prestigious literary prize, said he was stunned.
The book, based on his own childhood, tells of a young boy
growing up during tough years in Glasgow with a mother who is
battling addiction. Stuart's own mother died of alcoholism when
he was 16.
"I think I've been clear that my mother is in every page of this
book and without her I wouldn't be here and my work wouldn't be
here," he said.
"My mother unfortunately suffered with addiction and didn't
survive that addiction," he told the award ceremony, which had
to be mostly held remotely because of a lockdown in England to
stop the spread of COVID-19.
"And so for 30 years I've carried an awful lot of sort of loss
and love and pain, and I wanted really just to tell the story of
what it was like to grow up queer in Glasgow, to grow up with a
parent who you love but you couldn't save."
Margaret Busby, the chair of judges, said the novel was
gracefully and powerfully written.
"'Shuggie Bain' is destined to be a classic — a moving,
immersive and nuanced portrait of a tight-knit social world, its
people and its values," she said.
Among those who contributed to the ceremony were former U.S.
President Barack Obama, who said reading had offered a brief
respite from the daily challenges of the presidency.
Camilla, the wife of British heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles,
said this year's prize was more important than ever.
"While COVID deprived us of so many cultural pleasures... we
have, at least, been able to read," she said. "As long as we can
read, we can travel, we can escape, we can explore, we can
laugh, we can cry and we can grapple with life's mysteries."
(Reporting by Michael Holden, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
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