Speaking at a post-ceremony news conference in London, the 81-year-old author of *The End of Everything* told reporters that the era of "genres as fences and boxes, pigeonholes, is over," per the Associated Press.

He argued the Booker now shows it is "very possible to write a book that mixes not just two genres, but three or four."

Harrison also quipped that the award means "a complete career change and £50,000 in the bank," and that it brings "permission to write what you want to write," according to The National.

The AP reports Harrison said he had spent "40 to 50 years" trying to shift the balance so that a well-written work of science fiction could be considered literary fiction, and complained that the publishing industry itself had done little to break down barriers.

"There's almost no point these days in writing your own book, because it will be framed as something else to sell it," he said, calling that framing "quite offensive" to authors.

Penguin Random House, his U.S. publisher, described the book as a "slyly satirical and unsettling post-apocalyptic adventure."

Chair Mary Beard called the novel "the politics of now seen through the lens of the future," about a society "undergoing a catastrophe that they don't really understand," and insisted the unanimous choice was "not a lifetime achievement award" — the judges, who included poet Raymond Antrobus and Pulp's Jarvis Cocker, met four or five hours to decide, the AP reports.

Beard said the win recognizes "that you find great books in every genre." Booker Prize Foundation chief executive Gaby Wood, per the AP, noted the prize has dropped references to "literary fiction" from its materials because "all fiction is literary."

Asked what he plans to do with the money, Harrison told the Associated Press he would "probably spend it on repairs to the house. Because being an author means your house is falling down all the time."

The National reports that when asked earlier what he would spend it on, he guffawed that "you'd have to ask my partner."

He received the £50,000 prize and trophy from last year's winner David Szalay at the Old Billingsgate ceremony, and told The National the award is "a fantastic step towards being read."

The AP notes Harrison built his career at the speculative fiction magazine *New Worlds* and won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for *Nova Swing*, yet still regards the sci-fi label warily — he told reporters he does not want to be hemmed in by it.

With the Booker Foundation itself softening genre language and a Clarke Award-winning dystopian satire now carrying the trophy, publishers and judges appear aligned, for this year at least, on judging books without pigeonholes. *The End of Everything* is out from Riverhead Books in hardcover, ebook and Penguin Audio editions.