Sabah Attab.
The decision caused great incomprehension in the Moroccan literary scene. The Orange Africa Book Prize 2024, whose deliberations for the awarding of the prize were organized at the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco and the award ceremony during the 29th International Publishing and Book Fair (SIEL), does not will not see its seventh edition.
The Orange Africa Book Prize rewarded an African author published in a publishing house on the continent. The winner received 10,000 euros as well as great visibility thanks to support for the promotion of their book.
The new director of patronage and the Foundation, Hafida Guenfoud, in office a little over a year ago, has decided to put an end to the initiatives for the benefit of literature. The Orange France Book Prize, created in 2009, will also not be renewed.
For Sabah Attab, doctor of literature and member of the reading committee for the Orange Africa Book Prize 2024, the news devastated her. “It’s like a building that has collapsed, the prize represented great visibility for African writers, a form of emulation within the continent, an encouragement to writing, in addition to the pan-African jury in which I was, which made it possible to create a link between the different literary personalities of the continent,” she recalls with bitterness to Maroc Hebdo.
Two Moroccan authors were winners of the Orange Africa Book Prize. These are Loubna Serraj for her book “Pourvu qu’il s’être de bonne humor” (La Croisée des Chemins), in 2021 and Youssouf Amine Elalamy for “C’est beau la guerre” (Le Fennec), in 2020
