London Novelist Wins Booker Prize

LONDON — Graham Swift won the 1996 Booker Prize on Tuesday for his comic novel “Last Orders.”

Swift, a 47-year-old Londoner, collected a $32,000 check at an awards ceremony in London’s Guildhall. The prize, established in 1968, honors the best novel written in English in Britain or one of its Commonwealth nations.

“Last Orders” tells the story of four people who meet to carry out the dying wish of their friend, who asked that his ashes be scattered into the sea off the county of Kent.