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Afghan author takes Goncourt

01.01.70 | Philip Jones

An Afghan who fled his country 24 years ago has been awarded France's premier literary prize. Atiq Rahimi took the 2008 Prix Goncourt – the French equivalent of the Man Booker prize – with his first novel in French, a stark essay on the oppression of women in Afghanistan.

Rahimi is the second foreign-born writer to win the Goncourt in three years, reports the Independent. Rahimi, who has dual French and Afghan nationality, said his Goncourt victory was "a sign of recognition both for my work and the story of my life".

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