The jury of the 5th edition of the Nohée book prize, formerly called the Cogedim Club prize, distinguished, on Tuesday October 15, François Garde for his novel My uncle from Australiapublished by Grasset editions. The winner also receives a prize of 5,000 euros.
« By resurrecting a character from his family who had been murdered in the collective memory, François Garde was able to mourn the loss of his father. (…) From this fabulous round trip in the soul of this uncle hidden and destroyed by an entire family, he emerges transformed while his vision of the world becomes different” wanted to greet the jury. For his part, the winner said he was touched “because this novel represents seven years of writing and questioning”.
A family story
And for good reason, My uncle from Australia stands out like a family fresco born from a collective murmur. In 1900, Uncle Marcel was exiled, forced to live in Australia. To pay homage to his ancestor, François Garde investigates the life of this outcast, his arrival in Sydney, his dismay and his resolutions. In his research, however, the narrator discovers that this romantic-looking family story is not what it claimed to be until then.
Born in 1959 from academic Paul GuardRussian teacher, and a stay-at-home mother, François Garde graduated from ENA in 1984 and became, among other things, deputy secretary general of New Caledonia between 1991 and 1993, then from 2009 to 2010.
After this long career in the French administration, the senior civil servant began writing. In 2012, he published What happened to the white savage (Gallimard/Blanche), a title awarded, among others, the Goncourt Prize for the first novel. Will follow later For three crowns, The Dread et King breaking in (Gallimard). Nourished by his travels, François Garde’s texts give an important place to the imagination.
Created in 2020, the Nohée book prize encourages reading among seniors and supports literature. Each year it rewards a novel or story in French on the theme of family and transmission.
