At Night All blood is Black wins the 2021 International Booker Prize

The full press release can be downloaded here.

• David Diop’s At Night All Blood is Black was shortlisted for 10 major prizes in France and has already won the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens and the Swiss Prix Ahmadou Korouma
• Independent publisher Pushkin Press is publisher of the winning novel
• Diop is the first French author to win the prize 
• Diop took inspiration from his Senegalese great grandfather’s silence about his experiences in World War 

The New York Times described At Night All Blood Is Black as ‘more than a lone man’s spiritual burden. Diop realizes the full nature of war — that theatre of macabre and violent drama — on the page. He takes his character into the depths of hell and lets him thrive there.’ The Spectator said ‘with elegant brevity, Diop presents a world with no firm dividing line between courage and madness, murder and warfare; the most dedicated killers are awarded the Croix de Guerre.’ Angelique Chrisafis commented in the Guardian that the novel ‘addresses a story woefully absent from French history books.’

At Night All Blood is Black was chosen from a shortlist of six books during a lengthy and rigorous judging process, by a panel of five judges, chaired by Lucy Hughes-Hallett, cultural historian and novelist. The panel also included: journalist and writer Aida Edemariam; Man Booker shortlisted novelist, Neel Mukherjee; Professor of the History of Slavery, Olivette Otele; and poet, translator and biographer, George Szirtes.

Lucy Hughes-Hallett, chair of the judges, says: 

‘This story of warfare and love and madness has a terrifying power. The protagonist is accused of sorcery, and there is something uncanny about the way the narrative works on the reader. 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.’

The International Booker Prize is awarded every year for a single book that is translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland. It aims to encourage more publishing and reading of quality fiction from all over the world and to promote the work of translators. Both novels and short-story collections are eligible. The contribution of author and translator is given equal recognition, with the £50,000 prize split between them. Each shortlisted author and translator will receive £1,000, bringing the total value of the prize to £62,000.
 
This year the judges considered 125 books.

Together, the two Booker Prizes reward the best fiction from around the globe that is published in English in the UK and Ireland. 

The Booker Prizes are sponsored by Crankstart, a charitable foundation.