Senegalese author Mohamed Mbougar Sarr has been named the winner of the Goncourt Prize, France's most prestigious literary award, for his novel, "The Most Secret Memory of Men" (La plus secrète mémoire des hommes)., reports FRANCE 24.
Mohamed Mbougar Sarr is only 31 years old but he was the critics' favourite among the nominees. He is the first sub-Saharan African to win France's most prestigious literary award.
"I feel so much joy," he said at the Parisian restaurant where the awards are announced.
The winning novel is his fifth and was lauded for its mysterious characters and style of writing.
Alice McCrum, the programmes manager at the American Library in Paris, called the novel "intellectually knotty", remarking on its "labyrinthian construction".