Orange Book Award in Africa 2020 finalists announced.

The finalists for the Orange Book Award in Africa 2020 were announced on March 5, 2020.

The Orange Book in Africa Award was launched in November 2018 to reward a fiction text written in French by an African writer from a publishing house based on the continent. The prize is organised by the African Cultural Agency alongside the Orange Foundation, the French Institute, UNESCO, OIF, AFD and DHL. The first winner of the prize was Cameroonian writer and feminist activist Djaïli Amadou Amal.

The finalists of the 2020 edition of the prize, whittled down by six reading committees based in Tunisia, Senegal, Guinea, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Mali, have been revealed. After deliberations in Paris, the six books selected for the final of the Orange Book Prize in Africa are:

• Abdellah Baida, Testament d’un livre, Editions Marsam (Morocco)
• Ndèye Fatou Fall Dieng, Ces moments-Là , L’Harmattan Senegal (Senegal)
• Youssouf Amine Elalamy, C’est beau, la guerre, Editions Le Fennec (Morocco)
• Mostefa Harkat, Le retour au Moyen Age, Editions AFAQ (Algeria)
• Ahmed Mahfoudh, Les jalousies de la rue Andalouse, Arabesques éditions (Tunisia)
• Paul-Marie Traore, Jeu de dames, Editions Tombouctou (Mali)

The final jury chaired by Véronique Tadjo will choose a winner among the six finalists. It is made up of 10 members: Djaïli Amadou Amal (2019 winner, Cameroon), Yvan Amar (France), Kidi Bebey (France), Yahia Belaskri (Algeria), Eugène Ebodé (Cameroon ), Valérie Marin La Meslée (France), Nicolas Michel (France), Gabriel Mwènè Okoundji (Congo) and Mariama Ndoye (Senegal).

The winner will receive a cash prize of 10,000 euros and a campaign to promote their work.

The winner will be announced on June 4 in Tunis, Tunisia.