Abdellah Taïa and Amira Ghenim are on the deuxièmes selections for Prix Médicis 2024 announced on Wednesday, October 9, 2024
In 1958, French citizens Gala Barbisan and Jean-Pierre Giraudoux founded Prix Médicis to recognise a novel, a story, a collection of short stories by an author who does not yet have a notoriety corresponding to their talent. Since 1970, a foreign Prix Médicis, and since 1985, a Médicis essay prize, have been awarded on the same day. Some of the previous winners of the prize have been Dany Laferrière, Chloé Delaume, Orhan Pamuk, André Brink, and Emmanuèle Bernheim. Diaty Diallo and Leila Mottley were finalists in 2022.
Chaired by Anne F. Garréta, the 2024 jury is composed of Marianne Alphant, Michel Braudeau, Marie Darrieussecq Patrick Grainville, Dominique Fernandez, Andrei Makine, Pascale Roze, and Alain Veinstein. This team announced their first selections on Wednesday, September 18 before the second selection was revealed on October 9. The following writers of African descent are still in the running:
French novels
- Le Bastion des larmes, Abdellah Taïa (Julliard)
Foreign novels
- Le désastre de la maison des notables, Amira Ghenim (Tunisia) translated from Arabic by Souad Labbize (Philippe Rey)
The winner will be made public at a ceremony in Paris on November 6.
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