the essential
“Houris” by Kamel Daoud won the Goncourt prize this Monday. The book is already out of stock in the city's bookstores.
It's unchanging: every year at the beginning of November, booksellers' windows are filled with books surrounded by the legendary red band reserved for the winner of the Goncourt Prize. This year however, there is no point looking for it, Kamel Daoud's book, “Houris”, is nowhere to be found in Cahors. Are the Cadurcians therefore devouring Goncourt?
The Goncourt for a writer is like a gold medal at the Olympics for an athlete. The ultimate grail and the promise of exceptional success in bookstores. With “Houris”, a work dealing with the silence surrounding the black decade in Algeria (1992-2002), Kamel Daoud is the first Algerian author to win the prestigious literary title. His novel is out of stock in all Cadurcian bookstores. Nothing surprising in this for Nathalie Julia from the Calligramme bookstore. “Every year, there is a rush on Goncourt. This year was no exception. We sold the few copies of Houris we had left, the same day Kamel Daoud was appointed,” she explains.
“Especially since Daoud is an author already known to the general public. The press has talked a lot about his book because of the subject it covers. And before Houris, he wrote two other novels including “Meursault, contre-investigation” which received the Goncourt prize for the first novel in 2015,” add his colleagues Felicity Smith and Juliette Dubernet.
A Goncourt always sells
“We have customers who, even before knowing the winner, tell us: You will put a Goncourt aside for me. Readers trust the prices which are always prescriptive and synonymous with increased sales,” relates Anne-Lise Y Leang of the Fourmi rouge bookstore. Confirmation at Calligramme: “A lot of people only read one book per year and it’s Goncourt,” laughs Nathalie Julia.
Paul did not come to buy the latest Goncourt which he has already read but he confirms being influenced by the prices awarded to authors. “In general, I always buy Goncourt. This sometimes allows me to discover authors I don't know and I'm rarely disappointed. Except two years ago when “Vivre vite” by Brigitte Giraud didn’t excite me.”
Not found in recent days in Cahors, Kamel Daoud's book should very soon be available again. Cadurcian booksellers have already taken steps to be restocked as quickly as possible because they expect to have to respond to strong demand in the coming weeks. Especially to give it at Christmas.
