At Night All Blood is Black Wins the 2021 International Booker Prize!

On June 3, French-Senegalese writer David Diop became the first francophone writer to be awarded the International Booker Prize, winning for his novel At Night All Blood is Black (ed. FSG, trans. by Anna Moschovakis).

In the words of Booker judges chair Lucy Hughes-Hallett, “This story of warfare and love and madness has a terrifying power. […] We judges agreed that its incantatory prose and dark, brilliant vision had jangled our emotions and blown our minds. That it had cast a spell on us.”

Prior to this spectacular win, At Night all the Blood is Black was also the laureate of France’s Prix Goncourt des Lycéens and the Swiss Prix Ahmadou Kourouma, as well as the Strega European Prize in Italy. We even selected it as a staff pick a few weeks ago–click here to see why we loved it!

In France, the novel is published under the title Frère d’âme by Editions du Seuil.

Learn more about At Night All Blood is Black and David Diop from France Culture here and here, and from the New York Times here and here.

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