The international winners of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize were announced today. U.K. author Rana Dasgupta won Best Book for the novel Solo and Australian author Glenda Guest won Best First Book for the novel Siddon Rock. Dasgupta and Guest’s books were selected from a field of eight regional winners, which included Canadians Michael Crummey (Galore) and Shandi Mitchell (Under This Unbroken Sky), who won, respectively, for Best Book and Best First Book, Caribbean and Canada region.

In a press release from the Commonwealth Foundation, Nicholas Hasluck, chair of the judging panel, said, “The winning books are groundbreaking in taking readers outside their usual comfort zone.” Solo, which centres on a 100-year-old blind man from Bulgaria, was praised “for its innovation, ambition, courage and effortlessly elegant prose.” Siddon Rock, about a refugee and her son whose arrival in the titular town sparks conflict, was praised “for its cast of odd characters and blending of the everyday with fantasy.”

Guest takes home £5,000 and Dasgupta pockets a cool £10,000. The last time a Canadian won the overall prize was in 2008, when Lawrence Hill won for The Book of Negroes.