Éric Chacour winner of the 2024 France-Québec Prize

Here I am in France when this France-Quebec prize is awarded to me in Quebec! In my family, where we perceive divine signs in all circumstances of life, we would readily see it as an omen. In that of Tarek, the main character of my novel, we would probably invoke the mektoub.

This pirouette is not enough to express my disappointment at not being present, here, at this moment, with you. But I console myself with the thought of my two French-speaking publishers, one from the French capital, the other from Quebec, welcoming this news at the Montreal Book Fair. What more beautiful symbol than this to express the life of this book and the greatness of this Prize?

Editors are people in the shadows. So I imagine the discomfort of whichever of them reads this speech when thanking themselves. And yet yes, Antoine, Philippe, if you had not believed in this novel, if both of you had not given this story a chance, none of this would have been possible. Because such was the destiny of Ce que je sais de toi: when the booksellers of Quebec defended it, they were heard as far away as France; when he received an honor in France, it made hearts beat in Quebec.

Because it has shown, since its creation at the end of the last century, that words do not fear the oceans.

Because it is awarded by highly demanding readers.
Because he honored me with a final selection alongside my talented writing colleagues, Emmanuelle and Anne-Marie.
Because in the past he has saluted the talent of artists dear to my heart, from Michel Jean to Catherine Leroux.
Because it is the latter, inseparable from the history of this book, which received this same prize exactly 10 years ago.
Because, in my family, we perceive divine signs in all circumstances of life
Thank you for this France-Québec 2024 Prize.

– Eric Chacour