PARIS, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- French top literary prize Goncourt Prize on Monday was laureated to Marie NDiaye over her novel "Trois Femmes Puissantes" (Three Strong Women), featuring about struggling lives of three Africa-rooted women in Europe and Africa.

    Marie NDiaye, daughter to a French mother and a Senegalese father, will receive a symbolic check of 10 euros from the Goncourt Academy.

    Published by Gallimard, her novel "Three Strong Women" tells tales about French lawyer Norah returns to Africa to visit her father, Senegalese woman Fanta strives to live in France and another Senegalese woman Khady Demba tries to immigrate to Europe to find her relative.

    NDiaye was born in 1967 in Pithiviers, south of Paris and started to write at an age of 12. Her first novel "Quant au Riche Avenir" (About a Rich Future) was published when she was 17.

    NDiaye was selected from the shortlist, which includes Laurent Mauvignier for "Des Hommes" (Some Men), Jean-Philippe Toussaint for "La Verite sure Marie" (Truth about Marie) and Delphine de Vigan for "Les Heures Souterraines" (The Subterranean Hours).

    Named after the successful French author, critic and publisher Edmond de Goncourt, the annual prize was first awarded in 1903 andwas traditionally announced in the Drouant restaurant in Paris where the Goncourt jury meets.

    The prize usually promotes a sale boost to the works nominated. Famous writers like Marcel Proust, Jean Fayard, Simone de Beauvoirand Antonine Maillet were honored by it.

    Atiq Rahimi, an exiled Afghan writer, won the prize for "Syngue Sabour" (Stone of Patience) in 2008, which is also his first novel written in French.