In September, Estelle Moreno introduced you to some novels released during the literary season. Today, it’s time for the winners of the various grand prizes that punctuate our fall.
Let’s start with the oldest and most prestigious French literary prize, the Prix Goncourt. Created by Edmond de Goncourt in 1892, it is awarded by the Academy of the same name. This year, the Algerian Kamel Daoud won the award for his novel Houris published by Gallimard.
Goncourt Prize for Kamel Daoud
Her story gives voice to Aube, a young woman who was mute following the slitting of her throat when she was 5 years old. Pregnant, she speaks internally to her baby and travels to the village where she grew up and was injured and where her family and loved ones were murdered. It is a novel of memory, a historical account and a testimony of a woman in a battered Algeria.
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Renaudot Prize for jacaranda by Gael Faye
Little brother of Goncourt, the Renaudot prize created in 1926 by 10 critics who were awaiting the deliberation of its elder sister, shines its spotlight on Jacaranda by Gael Faye published by Grasset. We delve into the wounds of Rwanda, within a people who have been trying to rebuild themselves since the Tutsi genocide. Like this lavender blue flowering tree on the shores of Lake Kivu, there are 4 generations taking root, relying on forgiveness and dialogue.
The Medici Prize rewards Julia Deck for “Ann of England”
And finally, the Medici Prize, founded on April 1, 1958, in order to highlight a beginner author or one without much notoriety. Well, that’s not quite the case for our winner, Julia Deck, since she won the first novel prize from the University of Artois in 2013 and the Jean-Freustié prize in 2022. But her new novel entitled Ann from England which tells us about the life of her mother, victim of a stroke, through care establishments and an unexpected convalescence, is just magnificent, full of love and a very British humor that we love so much.
Of course, these are three of the best-known literary prizes awarded in the fall. But many other awards highlight feathers, more or less known. They will not make the front page of magazines but are part of the richness of our beautiful contemporary literature.
Happy reading and see you next week on Lyon Demain for a new Café Culture…
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