Which one of the following books was declared winner of the 2021 International Booker Prize?

Correct — A, At Night All Blood is Black. David Diop's novel won the International Booker Prize for 2021, translated from the French by Anna Moschovakis, and Diop became the first French writer to take the award. The book follows a Senegalese soldier fighting for France in the trenches of the First World War, and the prize money is split equally between author and translator, which is the feature that distinguishes this award from the Booker Prize for fiction. The other three titles in the option set were all on the same shortlist, which makes this a harder item than it looks.

• (b)The Dangers of Smoking in Bed — Mariana Enriquez's collection of stories from Argentina, translated by Megan McDowell, shortlisted for the same prize but not the winner.
• (c)When We Cease to Understand the World — Benjamin Labatut's book from Chile, translated by Adrian Nathan West, also on the 2021 shortlist.
• (d)The War of the Poor — Eric Vuillard's short work translated by Mark Polizzotti, shortlisted in the same year, so all four options are genuine finalists.

The International Booker Prize is awarded annually for a single book translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland, and it is quite separate from the Booker Prize for fiction written in English. Its defining feature is that the money is shared equally between the author and the translator, which was a deliberate statement about the status of translation. Until 2016 it worked differently, honouring a writer's whole body of work rather than one book.

An item built entirely from a shortlist cannot be answered by recognising which title sounds most literary; only the winner will do. The Indian connection worth carrying is the following year — Geetanjali Shree's Tomb of Sand, translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell, won in 2022 and was the first book in any Indian language to take the prize. The Booker Prize for fiction in 2021 went to Damon Galgut's The Promise, a separate award often confused with this one.

• The 2021 International Booker Prize went to David Diop for At Night All Blood is Black, translated by Anna Moschovakis.
• Diop was the first French writer to win the award.
• The prize money is divided equally between author and translator.
• All four options in this question were on the 2021 shortlist.
• Geetanjali Shree's Tomb of Sand, translated by Daisy Rockwell, won in 2022, the first book in an Indian language to do so.

• Confusing the International Booker Prize with the Booker Prize for fiction.
• Guessing by title when every option is a genuine shortlisted book.

An awards item whose whole option set is drawn from one shortlist, so only the winner's name answers it.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which book won the International Booker Prize in 2022?

  • (a)Tomb of Sand
  • (b)The Promise
  • (c)Cursed Bunny
  • (d)Heaven

  Answer(a) Tomb of Sand — Geetanjali Shree's novel, translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell, the first book in an Indian language to win.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  How is the International Booker Prize money divided?

  • (a)Entirely to the author
  • (b)Equally between author and translator
  • (c)Entirely to the publisher
  • (d)Between the author and the shortlisted writers

  Answer(b) Equally between author and translator — the split is what sets this prize apart.