Which James Kelman novel won the 1994 Booker Prize?

James Kelman’s novel How Late It Was, How Late won the 1994 Booker Prize.

The protagonist, Sammy Samuels, is an ex-convict and shoplifter who wakes after a drinking binge in Glasgow and discovers that he has become blind. As he tries to find his missing partner and apply for disability benefits, he faces police suspicion and an impenetrable welfare bureaucracy. The story unfolds over roughly one week.

Kelman’s prose uses Glasgow speech, repetition, profanity and a close stream-of-consciousness perspective. The style was central to the novel’s artistic purpose: it gave serious literary attention to a working-class voice often excluded from conventional literary English. The book is also unusual formally, with no conventional chapter structure.

The victory provoked fierce criticism, including objections to its language and accessibility. Some readers confuse it with Kelman’s earlier shortlisted novel A Disaffection, but that book was nominated in 1989 and did not win.