Nigerian author Chinua Achebe has been announced the winner of the second Man Booker International Prize.
The £60,000 prize is awarded biennially to a living author for a body of work that "has contributed to an achievement in fiction on the world stage".
Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare won the inaugural award in 2005.
Achebe is best known for his 1958 debut novel, 'Things Fall Apart', and has written over 20 books, including 'Arrow of God' and 'Anthills of the Savannah'
Commenting, the author said: "It was 50 years ago this year that I began writing my first novel, 'Things Fall Apart'. It is wonderful to hear that my peers have looked at the body of work I have put together in the last 50 years and judged it deserving of this important recognition. I am grateful."
This year's judging panel included the Irish writer Colm Tóibín, who said: "Chinua Achebe has been one of my heroes since I read his book 'Things Fall Apart'. This book manages to capture an essential moment in the colonial drama; it dramatises momentous change with clarity, sympathy and astonishing fluency and ease."
He continued: "His [Anichebe's] other books, especially 'A Man of the People' and 'No Longer at Ease' have worked with a mixture of tones, from the satiric, to the prophetic. 'Anthills of the Savannah' manages a variety of voices and cadences with the skill and deep insight of the real master of the novel form."
