The winner, a 56-year-old French teacher, writes from the point of view of a teenager, Farah, and her family, invested in a church founded by the father, who finds herself around poetry readings.
“I’m delighted. I feel like I’m part of a line,” the winner told the press, citing former winners like Georges Perec, Mathieu Lindon and Marie Darrieussecq.
“It is a novel of course, but also a tribute to poetry. (…) I can only repeat my pride in having this very beautiful prize”, affirmed the novelist.
The Medici Prize for Foreign Novel went to Andrei Kurkov for “Les Abeilles grises” (Liana Levi editions), a novel about the absurdity of the conflict sparked by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
“The fact that a book that tells about the situation in Ukraine has been awarded, it means that there will be more readers for this book,” the Russian-language Ukrainian author told AFPTV.
“Ukraine remains a very important theme for the world (…) It’s a human story, about the people who live in the war. It’s not about the fighters, but I think the book explains a lot on the situation today in Ukraine”, continued the author, convinced that “more people will be interested in what is happening (there)”.
The Médicis Prize for Essay was awarded to Georges Didi-Huberman for “The Witness to the End” (Editions de Minuit).
“This little book that was elected – I thank you so much – is a small volume on a case that deserved it”, explained the philosopher.
He dedicates this book to Victor Klemperer, “a great philologist who chose to stay in Dresden” under Nazism to study the changes in the German language under a totalitarian regime.
Also on Tuesday, in the same restaurant in Paris, the Jean Giono prize was awarded to Sandrine Collette for “We were wolves” (JCLattès editions). The novel recounts the life of an isolated man in the mountains with his five-year-old son.
Monday evening, the Castel prize was awarded to Catherine Millet for “Commencements” (Flammarion editions). The author of “The Sexual Life of Catherine M.” recounts his beginnings in the world of contemporary art.
A last great autumn literary prize remains to be awarded, the Interallié on Wednesday.
