And the winners of major literary awards just keep rolling in: Marie NDiaye is the winner of the Prix Goncourt, France’s top literary Prize. NDiaye is the first black woman to win the award, which was announced on Monday.

NDiaye won the award for her novel Trois femmes puissantes, which translates to Three Powerful Women. The book traces the lives of three women in Africa and France and the places their lives intersect. More details about book, award and author are in this story in The Guardian.

Interesting fact about the Prix Goncourt via the L.A. Times – the prize money is only about $15, but does tend to thrust books onto the bestseller list.

The University of Nebraska Press published an English Translation of NDiaye’s novel Rosie Carpe in 2004. The book tells the story of Rosie Carpe, single mother of a young son, Lazare, her maybe brother, and her parents, who abandoned her years before in Paris. In spite of the protagonist’s bleak life, Rosie Carpe a compelling character, and her story is is both a page-turner and a love story.  Rosie Carpe won the 2001 Femina Prize, another prestigious French literary award.