It’s the end of an era. Officialized on the sly at the beginning of October by the Orange Foundation, the end of the Orange Book Prize, the Orange Book Prize in Africa (POLA) and the Orange Comics Prize came as a surprise. The way of proceeding is not unrelated: the members of the various juries were not previously informed of the decision, nor were the local African collectives who were responsible for pre-selecting the works competing for the POLA.
At the origin of this decision we find the new general delegate of the Orange foundation, Hafida Guenfoud. Taking office in July 2023, the manager decided to redirect the support of the Orange Foundation towards the world of music, thus cutting the funding from which the book benefited.
Since 2019, the Orange Book Prize in Africa has worked to promote African literary talents and local African publishing. For his 6e edition in 2024, some 39 novels had been proposed by 27 publishing houses based in 15 French-speaking African countries. The jury, chaired by Véronique Tadjohad rewarded Dibakana Mankessi for his novel The Psychoanalyst of Brazzavillepublished by Les Lettres Moutées, based in Congo Brazzaville.
An institution in the French-speaking African literary landscape
This innovative literary prize had become an institution in the French-speaking literary landscape in Africa, generating real enthusiasm among writers as well as publishers in that it made it possible to reward an author and his editor, both from the continent.
The POLA was also accompanied by training workshops in publishing and literary criticism while its reading committees spread across five or six African countries carried out significant clearing work in order to arrive at a choice of five works. intended for jury members, writers, journalists and librarians.
Joined by Weekly BooksVéronique Tadjo deplores the lack of communication from the Orange Foundation. “ The stopping of the price has not been formally announced to usshe says. The new management of the Orange Foundation did not approach the jury. No notice, no thanks. It was only very recently, when the date for the call for applications from African publishers was well past that we had a brief exchange of emails. We were presented with a fait accompli. »
Lack of communication
This lack of communication also prevailed with regard to the other two prices. No more than the other personalities involved in the Orange Book Prizes, Jean-Christophe Rufin, who has chaired the jury since 2016, was informed of the Foundation’s decision. “ We knew since the arrival of the new team that there was talk of ending the commitment, but it was the way of proceeding that surprised us », he confides to Weekly Books.
Created in 2009 by the Orange Foundation and endowed with 15,000 euros, the Orange Book Prize was intended to “highlight the most notable novels from the start of the January school year and give visibility to emerging talents ». It was the subject of a pre-selection by a jury of book professionals before being submitted to a vote by Internet users via the readers.com site, associated with the Orange Foundation and also due to disappear soon. This year its winner was Marianne Jaeglerewarded for The Prince’s friend (The Surveyor).
Call for support
Finally, an Orange comic strip prize was launched in 2020, won this year by Clarisse Crémer et Maud Bénézit pour I’m going but I’m afraid (Delcourt).
Faced with what he considers to be a bad signal for the book world, Jean-Christophe Rufin recalls that the commitment of the Orange Foundation represented a strong symbol: “ Dn a period where all studies show that young people are turning away from books, the involvement of the first French digital company in favor of literature clearly showed that technology and books have every reason to be associated. »
Reason why with Erik Orsena (who was first president of the Orange Book Prize jury from 2009 to 2015, and Véronique Tadjo, he co-signed in The Point a column entitled “Large French companies must support books and reading!” »
« I still hope that Orange will reconsider its decisioninsists Jean-Christophe Rufin. There is no need to oppose music and literature and the Orange Foundation has ample means to support both.. » The academician also says he is ready to give up the presidency of the jury. “ Beyond people, the important thing is that prices continue to exist », he concludes.
Contacted by Weekly Booksthe Orange Foundation did not respond to our requests.
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