The France-Québec 2024 literary prize was awarded to Montrealer Éric Chacour for his novel What I know about you. Created in 1998, awarded annually, the prize highlights the excellence of contemporary Quebec novels. Accompanied by a grant of €5,000, it offers the author the opportunity to meet his readership during a tour of France organized by the France-Québec / Francophonie Federation network through high schools, bookstores and media libraries.
About What I know about youfirst novel by the author born in Montreal to Egyptian parents, which takes place between the Levantine community of Egypt and the Montreal winters, from the reign of Nasser until the dawn of the 2000s, Odile Tremblay wrote the year last that it was a “story of forbidden love, of rooting and flight”, a story “kneaded with stylistic finesse and depth”.
Since its release in 2023, the novel, published by Alto in Quebec and by Philippe Rey in France, has had an extraordinary journey, accumulating around ten distinctions, including the Prix des cinq continents de la francophonie, the Femina des lycéens and the Prix booksellers in France. Translations of the book have been published or are about to be published in more than a dozen countries and territories, including English Canada, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the Arab world.
The other two finalists this year were Wildflowers are wild in name only. d’Anne-Marie Duquette (XYZ) et The version that interests no one by Emmanuelle Pierrot (Quartanier).
To watch on video
Canada
