Philippe Claudel wins foreign fiction award

Philippe Claudel has written 14 novels

French writer Philippe Claudel has scooped the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize with his novel Brodeck's Report.

Claudel will share the £10,000 prize money with US translator John Cullen.

The Frenchman directed and wrote the screenplay for Bafta-winning 2008 film I've Loved You So Long.

The annual book award is given to a living author whose work has been translated into English from any other language and published in the UK.

The prize previously ran from 1990-95 and was revived in 2001 with funding from Arts Council England.

Judge Boyd Tonkin called Claudel's work " a beautiful and disturbing novel that finds a bewitchingly original way to talk about the tragedies of modern history."

"This book is work of art that also addresses troubling questions of human behaviour and historical conflict with courage, compassion and imagination.

"It makes a thoroughly worthy addition to the illustrious list of novels to have won this unique prize," he added.