27 May 2011 Last updated at 06:09 ET

Foreign Fiction Prize won by Peruvian author

At 36, Santiago Roncagliolo is the youngest author to win the prize

Peruvian author Santiago Roncagliolo has won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for his third novel, Red April.

The writer beat competition from the likes of Nobel Prize-winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk to become the youngest person to win the prize at 36.

He shares his £10,000 award with the translator of his novel, American Edith Grossman.

The prize is given to a living author whose book has been translated into English and published in the UK.

Roncagliolo's political thriller, translated from Spanish, tells of a Peruvian prosecutor in charge of a murder investigation.

Judge and literary editor at the Independent Boyd Tonkin described Red April as "a novel that will grip, excite, disturb and challenge all its readers".

Roncagliolo said: "The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize closes a wonderful 'British season' for me and my book.

"I am very happy to have won, but I was already honoured to be on the longlist, to be considered in the same league as such amazing writers."

Edith Grossman said: "Translating the work of a fine writer is sheer pleasure: the better the writing, the more satisfying the challenge for the translator.

"I so enjoyed the opportunity to bring the work of Santiago over into English. His use of language is clean and sharp and perceptive, and regardless of the kind of piece he has written, that wonderful quality is constant."

The other authors shortlisted for the prize included Pamuk for his novel, The Museum of Innocence, Norwegian Per Petterson for I Curse the River of Time and Kamchatka by the Argentine Marcelo Figueras.

The Sickness from Venezuelan author Alberto Barrera Tyszka and Visitation, the third novel by German writer Jenny Erpenbeck were also nominated.

Last year's prize went to Philippe Claudel for Brodeck's Report, translated from the French by American John Cullen.