US writer Edward P Jones wins 2005 IMPAC award

American writer Edward P Jones has won this year's International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his first novel, The Known World.

The €100,000 prize is the largest prize for a literary award anywhere in the world.

The Known World, which took Jones 11 years to write, was chosen from a shortlist of ten novels nominated by libraries from across the world.

The book is set in 1855 Virginia and is the story of a black slave owner.