French novelist David Diop wins International Booker Prize

• French novelist David Diop won the prestigious International Booker Prize for books translated into English with his World War I-set novel, ‘At Night All Blood is Black’.

• The Paris-born writer became the first French winner of the prize.

• The book’s translator Anna Moschovakis won half the £50,000 ($70,850) prize, which recognises the major role of translators.

• The International Booker Prize, formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize, has been awarded since 2005, when it was won by Albanian writer Ismail Kadare.

• It is awarded annually for a single book, translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland. 

• It is a sister prize to the Booker Prize, awarded to a novel written in English.

• Writer David Diop beat five other finalists to take the £50,000 prize.

• Diop’s novel was chosen by majority decision of the five judges over contenders including Jewish-Russian family history ‘In Memory of Memory’ by Russian writer Maria Stepanova and short-story collection ‘The Dangers of Smoking in Bed’ by Argentina’s Mariana Enriquez.

• Born in France and raised in Senegal, Diop teaches 18th-century literature at the University of Pau in southern France. 

• Diop’s novel tells the story of two Senegalese soldiers fighting for France in the trenches of World War I. 

• The book was first published in 2018 with the French title ‘Frere d’ame’ (literally soul brother), a play on words, as it sounds like ‘Frere d’armes’ or brother-in-arms.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store