SELECTED FOR BARACK OBAMAS SUMMER READING LISTWINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2021A GUARDIAN and THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEARThis slight book is an extraordinarily powerful exploration of what happens to the souls of men sent to kill and be killed The Times, Historical Fiction Books of the YearExtraordinary... full of sadness, rage and beauty Sarah WatersAlfa and Mademba are two of the many Senegalese soldiers fighting in the Great War. Together they climb dutifully out of their trenches to attack Frances German enemies whenever the whistle blows, until Mademba is wounded, and dies in a shell hole with his belly torn open.Without his more-than-brother, Alfa is alone and lost amidst the savagery of the conflict. He devotes himself to the war, to violence and death, but soon begins to frighten even his own comrades in arms. How far will Alfa go to make amends to his dead friend?At Night All Blood is Black is a hypnotic, heartbreaking rendering of a mind hurtling towards madness.

David Diop was born in Paris in 1966 and grew up in Senegal. He now lives in France, where he is a professor of eighteenth century literature at the University of Pau. At Night All Blood is Black is Davids second novel. It was shortlisted for ten major prizes in France and won the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens. It has so far been translated into 13 languages, winning the LA Times Book Prize for fiction, the Italian Premio Strega Europeo, the Dutch Europese Literatuurprijs, the Swiss Prix Ahmadou-Kourouma and the International Booker Prize.