Marie NDiaye has become the first black woman to win France's leading literary prize, the Goncourt.

Marie NDiaye成为获得法国主流文学奖——龚古尔文学奖的第一位黑人妇女。

NDiaye said she was pleased to be a female winner of the award

The 42-year-old was honoured for her novel Trois Femmes Puissantes (Three Powerful Women), a saga¹（传说，英雄事迹） set in both Africa and Europe.

Frenchwoman NDiaye, whose father is Senegalese and mother French, said: "This prize is an unexpected reward for 25 years of persistence²."

She becomes the first woman in a decade to be awarded the Goncourt.

Nominal³ prize fund

"I am very happy to be a woman receiving the Goncourt," said NDiaye at the awards ceremony, which by tradition took place in a Parisian（巴黎的） restaurant.

"The book's success was already a miracle of sorts," she added, referring to her novel attaining⁴ best seller status in France when it was published earlier this year.

NDiaye, who published her first novel at the age of 17, has also gained a reputation as a screenwriter（编剧家） and playwright⁵（剧作家）.

She moved to Berlin in 2007 after President Nicholas Sarkozy won the election, saying she finds France under his rule "monstrous（巨大的，怪异的）" and "vulgar（粗俗的）".

The Goncourt Prize, which was first handed out in 1903, awards the best new novel in French literature.

The accolade⁶（赞美，表扬） comes with a prize fund of just 10 Euros (£9.04) but is a guarantee of a boost in book sales and celebrity⁷ status.