George Saunders poses with his book Lincoln in the Bardo during a photocall at the Royal Festival Hall in London, Britain, on Oct. 16, 2017. (Xinhua/Ray Tang)

LONDON, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Famed U.S. writer George Saunders has won the Man Booker prize for his novel Lincoln in the Bardo, becoming the second U.S. author in a row to take home the prestigious literary prize.

The 58-year-old author, born in Texas and lives in New York now, received his trophy at London's Guildhall late Tuesday. He won the 50,000 pounds prize for his first full-length novel.

In his acceptance speech, Saunders called the prize a wonderful honor and thanked his wife Paula who has encouraged him to continue the book when he suffered from frustration during writing.

He also said: "The question at the heart of the matter is pretty simple: do we respond to fear with exclusion and negative projection and violence? Or do we take that ancient great leap of faith and do our best to respond with love?"

Judges praised the "utterly original" work and said it was "deeply moving".

Lola Young, chair of the judge panel, said the novel stands out because of "its innovation, its very different styling, the way it almost paradoxically brought to life these almost dead souls in this other world".

Saunders has previously won the Folio Prize and Story Prize for his short story collection Tenth of December. He was one of six authors shortlisted for this year's Man Booker prize, alongside British writers Ali Smith and Fiona Mozley, fellow Americans Paul Auster and Emily Fridlund, and British-Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid.

Last year the American writer Paul Beatty won the prize for his book Sellout.

The eligibility rules of the prize were changed four years ago to allow writers of any nationality writing in the English language and being published in the UK.