The Lebanese-French poet Vénus Khoury-Ghata has received the 2011 Prix Goncourt de Poésie. Her English publisher Carcanet, released the news earlier this week. In 2009 they published Alphabets of Sand, a substantial exploration of exile, migration and the dual inheritance of culture and language. The translations were made by the outstanding American poet Marilyn Hacker, a frequent contributor to PN Review, as is Vénus Khoury-Ghata herself. She has lived in Paris since the early 1970s and has received many awards, including the Grand Prix de la Societe des Gens de Lettres for Fables pour un people d'argile in 1992.