The Mediterranean Insurance and Reinsurance Company “COMAR” unveiled, on the evening of Saturday May 4, 2024, the literary prizes of the 28th edition of “Comar d’Or”, at the Municipal Theater of Tunis, in the presence of numerous guests, including the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in charge of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Moncef Boukthir.
This initiative crowned a series of actions carried out by COMAR in the socio-cultural field, support for film production, cultural activities within the company… thus concretizing its choice of wanting to be a corporate citizen.
Endowed with an amount of 10,000 DT each, the Comar d’Or prizes are awarded to the best novels, in either language, published in Tunisia or abroad during the period from April 1, 2023 to 31 March 2024.
To get to the heart of the matter, the jury for the novel in French is chaired by our colleague Ridha Kefi (journalist and novelist). He is assisted by Mohamed Harmel (University professor, novelist and poet), Monia Mouakher Kallel (novelist), Kamel Ben Ouanes (Academic and literary critic).
This 28th edition of the Comar d’Or recorded 58 novels for the competition, including 37 in Arabic and 21 in French. Knowing that the previous one had the participation of a total of 61 novels, and Mokhtar Sahnoun (young Tunisian writer).
The novels in French in competition are: “So that the weather is more beautiful…” by Atef Gadhoumi, “Enchanter sa vie…” by Anouar Attia, “The Man who saw tomorrow” by Aziz Dridi, “The quest for sublime hope” by Hela Jenayah Tekali, “Misunderstandings” by Azza Filali, “Impasses” by Rafika Inoubli, “Crossed Destinies” by Mohamed Mouldi El Kefi, “Nouba” by Youssef Glenza, “Les jacarandas de Lafayette” by Naima Amine, “ The Sweet Evils” by Hajer Abdelkafi, “The Butterflies of Lampedusa” by Walid Amri,” “Paris is a Debt” by Saber Mansouri and “The Lament of the Insane Poet” by Ahmed Mahfoudh.
Concerning the Arabic novel jury, it is made up of Mohamed El Khadi (university professor), Neziha Khelifi (critic), Hafidha Kara Bibene (short story writer, poet and novelist), Ahmed Guesmi (academic) and Hafedh Mahfoudh (writer).
And it is the novel “Misunderstandings” by Azza Filali which wins the Comar d’Or Prize 2024. In this regard, here is the jury’s comment in French: “Portraits of women, submissive or rebellious, which refers to the main character, an occasional investigator, her own image of a resigned woman frightened by her own desire for revolt”.
The 2024 Jury Prize is awarded to “Fleurir” by Wafa Ghorbel. While the 2024 Discovery Prize went to “So that the weather is more beautiful…” by Atef Gadhoumi.
The Golden Comar for the Arabic novel was awarded to Sahbi Karaani for his novel “Defeter el jilani weld’Ahmed”. The special jury prize for the novel in Arabic was awarded to the novel “Hadra” by Kalthoum Ayachi. While the Discovery Prize for the novel in Arabic went to Chaker Nacef for his novel “Arch el mejanine”.
It should be noted that the Comar d’Or prize (in Arabic and French) is worth 10,000 dinars, and is awarded to the best novel in both languages. It is therefore the highest distinction of this literary competition. As for the “Special Jury Prizes”, they are worth 5,000 dinars each, compared to 2,500 dinars for the “Discovery Prizes”.
