Historic double, in this year 2024, for authors from the African continent who have won the most famous awards in the French literary world: the Goncourt prize which rewards “Houris”, the third novel by Kamel Daoud and the Renaudot prize awarded to Gaël Faye for “Jacaranda”. Two books which shed light on the dark periods of Algeria and Rwanda in the 90s. Report in Paris at the Drouant restaurant with the winners, on the day of their consecration.
Kamel Daoud, born in 1970 in Mesra, Algeria, is a French-speaking Algerian writer and journalist. In 1994, Kamel Daoud began his journalistic career at Quotidien d’Oran, a French-speaking Algerian newspaper. Alongside his career as a journalist, Kamel Daoud embarked on literary writing. His first novel, Meursault, counter-investigation (2013), is a rewrite of the famous The Stranger by Albert Camus, seen from the point of view of the anonymous Arab killed by Meursault. This novel earned him the Goncourt Prize for first novel in 2015, as well as the François Mauriac Prize and the Five Continents of La Francophonie Prize.
In 2024, Kamel Daoud publishes Hourisa work that explores themes of religion, freedom and identity. This novel is praised by critics for its depth and originality. Daoud continues to question existential and societal questions, offering his readers a profound reflection on the contemporary world. His novel won the 2024 Goncourt Prize, and was selected in 2024 for the Goncourt des Lycéens Prize.
“I am the real trace, the strongest evidence attesting to everything we have experienced in ten years in Algeria. I hide the history of an entire war, written on my skin since I was a child. »
Aube is a young Algerian who must remember the war of independence, which she did not live through, and forget the civil war of the 1990s, which she herself went through. His tragedy is marked on his body: a scar on his neck and destroyed vocal cords. Mute, she dreams of finding her voice again.
She can only tell her story to the girl she carries in her womb. But does she have the right to keep this child? Can you give life when it has almost been taken from you? In a country that has passed laws to punish anyone who mentions the civil war, Aube decides to go to his native village, where it all began, and where the dead will perhaps answer him. (Presentation of Gallimard editions)
Singer-songwriter, Gaël Faye is the author of the first phenomenon novel Small country (Grasset 2016, Goncourt prize for high school students) as well as several albums, from Pili pili on a butter croissant (2013), to Mauve Jacaranda (2022). He was the Stage Revelation of the Year at the 2018 Victoires de la Musique.
What secrets hides the shadow of the jacaranda tree, Stella’s favorite tree? It will take his friend Milan years to discover it. Years to break through the silences of Rwanda, devastated after the Tutsi genocide. By giving back their words to the deceased, young people will escape loneliness. And will find peace near the magnificent shores of Lake Kivu.
Over four generations, with his unique gentleness, Gaël Faye tells us the terrible story of a country which despite everything tries to dialogue and forgiveness. As a tree stands between darkness and light, Jacaranda celebrates humanity, paradoxical, loving, alive. (Presentation of Grasset editions)
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