Writer William Fiennes and Akhil Sharma

Akhil Sharma: Sharma said he still wasn't sure whether it had been worth it. , according to Winnipeg Free Press. Writer William Fiennes, who led the judging panel, called the book "deceptively simple ... emotionally rich, incredibly moving" and surprisingly funny. Indian-American author Akhil Sharma won the 40,000 pound $60,000 Folio Prize for fiction Monday with "Family Life," the autobiographical story of an immigrant family floundering in America that took him almost 13 years to write. "I'm glad the book exists," he said. "I just wish I hadn't been the guy who wrote it." (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.