CAPF AC 2021 Q125: Current Affairs – Awards & Honours
- (a) At Night All Blood is Black
- (b) The Dangers of Smoking in Bed
- (c) When We Cease to Understand the World
- (d) The War of the Poor
Answer: (a) At Night All Blood is Black
Explanation
International Booker Prize 2021
How to think: keep the two Booker prizes apart.
The Booker Prize is for a novel written in English.
The International Booker Prize is for a book translated into English.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Winner 2021 | At Night All Blood is Black |
| Author | David Diop (France), the first French winner |
| Translator | Anna Moschovakis (from French) |
| Story | A Senegalese soldier fighting for France in the First World War |
| Prize money | 50,000 pounds, shared equally by author and translator |
The other options were all on the 2021 shortlist.
For comparison: the Booker Prize 2021 went to The Promise by Damon Galgut of South Africa.
In 2022 Geetanjali Shree's Tomb of Sand became the first Hindi novel to win the International Booker.
Answer: (a) At Night All Blood is Black.
Why each option is right or wrong
- (a) CORRECT. At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop won in 2021.
- (b) Incorrect. The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez was only shortlisted.
- (c) Incorrect. When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut was shortlisted.
- (d) Incorrect. The War of the Poor by Eric Vuillard was shortlisted.
Key point
International Booker Prize: translated fiction, prize shared by author and translator. 2020: The Discomfort of Evening (Marieke Lucas Rijneveld). 2021: At Night All Blood is Black (David Diop). 2022: Tomb of Sand (Geetanjali Shree, translated by Daisy Rockwell).
Remember
International Booker 2021: David Diop, At Night All Blood is Black.
Common mistakes
- Mixing up the International Booker with the Booker Prize (The Promise, 2021).
- Marking a shortlisted book as the winner.
- Forgetting that the prize money is shared with the translator.
Exam tip
Educated guess: all four options were on the shortlist, so elimination does not work here. Remember the winner by its unusual title and its First World War story.
Sources
- The Booker Prizes — The 2021 International Booker Prize: At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop, translated by Anna Moschovakis (2 June 2021)
- BBC News — David Diop wins International Booker Prize (June 2021)