Acclaimed British author Andrea Levy has won the Commonwealth Writers' top prize for 2005 with her fourth novel Small Island.
Nigerian Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie won the First Best Book prize for her stunning debut Purple Hibiscus.
President Emeritus Guido de Marco, chairman of the Commonwealth Foundation, announced the winners during the Association of Commonwealth Literature's triennial conference dinner at the SAS Radisson last week.
Ms Levy, who lives and works in London, was born in the UK to Jamaican parents. She wins £10,000 for the top prize.
She has already been the recipient of an Arts Council Writers Award and was the winner of the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction.
The chairman of the five-person pan-Commonwealth judging panel, poet and literary critic Daniel Massa heaped praise on the winning book. "This book brilliantly juxtaposes the problems of cultural locations that are inextricably meshed in the history and politics of the colonial experiences of the West Indies, England and even India," he said.
Ms Levy's novel skilfully depicts the politics and stresses of race relations in a global environment of shrinking borders and developing cultural identities.
Prof. Massa said the excellence of Small Island lies not only with its thematic issues that are represented with insight and sensitivity, but also in Ms Levy's consummate narrative skills in blending multiple voices in a framework resonant with humour, irony, understanding and a lot of fun.
Commenting on Ms Adichie's work, Prof. Massa described her first novel as an impressive work which transcends national relevance.
"Adichie's work effectively portrays the cutting effect of the twin legacy of colonialism, evangelical Catholicism and a weak political infrastructure, at a time when Nigeria seemed to be falling apart under the pressures of a military coup."
Prof. de Marco said the citation of the winners' books revealed aspects of the Commonwealth as expressed through the English language. "Particular situations make writers the conscience of people. Writing gives a voice to the voices which cannot be heard," he told those present.
The Commonwealth Writers' Prize, established in 1987, is one of the most important literary prizes in the world. To be eligible, the authors must be citizens of one of the Commonwealth's 53 member countries.
The board of judges, chaired by Prof. Massa, included Mary Kolawole, from Nigeria, Marjorie Thorpe, from Trinidad and Tobago, Sanjukta Dasgupta, from India, and Vijay Mishra from Australia.
Last year's Best Book prize was awarded to British author Caryl Phillips for A Distant Shore while the Best First Book prize went to Mark Haddon for A Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time.