Posted on June 2, 2021 at 2:08 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

The International Booker Prize has gone to a French author — and one of African heritage — for the first time, reports the Guardian.

David Diop and his translator, Anna Moschovakis, received the 2021 award today for their work on At Night All Blood is Black.

The novel was inspired by Diop’s great-grandfather, a Senegalese soldier who fought for France in World War I.

The chair of judges called it an “extraordinary” book that isn’t just about war — it’s also about the bonds amongst the soldiers and other characters and about language, as it was originally in French, with a main character who thinks in the African language Wolof.

At Night All Blood Is Black is a bestseller in France, where it also was shortlisted for ten literary prizes and won the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens.

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Categories: Today in Books

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