Geetanjali Shree has become the first Indian writer to win the International Booker Prize on Thursday. Her novel, Tomb of Sand (Ret Samadhi), became the first Hindi-language book to be shortlisted for the £50,000 prize. The prize money will be split in between Shree and American translator Rockwell.

The 725-page novel outlines a family saga set in the shadow of the partition of India in 1947, and follows an 80-year-old woman after the death of her husband, exploring the themes of trauma, motherhood and feminism.

In her acceptance speech, quoted by the Press Trust of India, she said being the first book in Hindi to win the prize felt good.

Rockwell called it "one of the most difficult" works she has ever translated because of the "experimental nature of Geetanjali's writing" and "unique use of language."

"Behind me and this book lies a rich and flourishing literary tradition in Hindi, and in other South Asian languages. World literature will be the richer for knowing some of the finest writers in these languages," said Shree.

Frank Wynne, the chair of judges, said the panel were "captivated by the power, the poignancy and the playfulness" of her novel.

"This is a luminous novel of India and partition, but one whose spellbinding brio and fierce compassion weaves youth and age, male and female, family and nation into a kaleidoscopic whole," he said.

The International Booker Prize is awarded every year for a book that is translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland.

This is different from the Man Booker Prize which is for English novels and has been won by Indians in the past, including Arundhati Roy and Aravind Adiga.

In a BBC interview, Shree said the novel tells human stories that are universal irrespective of their cultural backdrop.

Shree, based in New Delhi, has authored several short stories and five novels. Her 2000 novel Mai was shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award in 2001, and was translated into English by Nita Kumar.

-BBC/CNN