WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's deputy culture minister says he is happy that Polish author Olga Tokarczuk is the first Pole to win the prestigious Man Booker International Prize for fiction.

Tokarczuk's liberal views and perspectives on Polish history — especially on the Holocaust and on Polish anti-Semitism — clashed with those of Poland's ruling conservative party. She had received death threats in the past for her views.

But on Wednesday, Deputy Culture Minister Jaroslaw Sellin said he's happy over "every success" of Polish artists. He stressed the award has an even greater weight after this year's literary Nobel Prize was cancelled.

He said Tokarczuk's novels are of interest abroad because of their multi-cultural aspect.

Tokarczuk won the prize Tuesday with her novel "Flights" that charts multiple journeys in time, space and human anatomy.