Tale of a Senegalese Soldier Wins International Booker Prize
French-Senegalese writer, David Diop, has been awarded this year's prestigious International Booker Prize for his debut novel At Night All Blood Is Black. The book tells the story of a Senegalese soldier who descends into madness while fighting for France in WWI. Diop shares the prize with his translator Anna Moschovakis, who translated the work from its original French.
The International Booker Prize is awarded annually to a single book that is translated to English and published in either the UK or Ireland. Previous winners include British-Nigerian writer Bernadine Evaristo who became the first-ever Black woman to be awarded the prize in 2019. Diop was initially longlisted for the prize alongside veteran Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong'o, for his novel The Perfect Nine - the first-ever entry written in the indigenous African language, Gikuyu.
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Senegal:
David Diop Wins International Booker Prize for 'At Night All Blood Is Black'
DW, 4 June 2021
The French-Senegalese writer and academic David Diop has taken home the International Booker Prize for a novel translated into English from another language. Read more »
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Senegal:
Haunting Account of a Senegalese Soldier Wins International Booker Prize
The Conversation Africa, 3 June 2021
Born to a French mother and a Senegalese father, David Diop has won the prestigious annual International Booker prize for translated fiction. He shares the prize with his… Read more »
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Kenya:
Ngugi Wa Thiongo Makes Historic Booker Prize Longlist
Premium Times, 31 March 2021
The celebrated author is the first Booker Prize nominee for a work originally written in an indigenous African language. Read more »
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Kenya:
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, 12 Others for International Booker Prize
Vanguard, 5 April 2021
Africa's literary colossus, Professor Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, made history on Tuesday, when he was longlisted among twelve other authors for the 2021 International Booker Prize, as both… Read more »
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The announcement that David Diop won the International Booker prize.