Peace Adzo Medie’s novel Sa Seule épouse was declared the Prix Littéraire Les Afriques 2024 winner on Monday, April 7, 2025.
Prix Littéraire Les Afriques is awarded annually to an African or writer of African descent who has written fiction highlighting a human, societal, ideological, political, cultural, economic, or historical issue related to Africa or its diaspora. Prix Les Afriques, created by the Swiss lawyer Ngoãn Beti founded association La Cene Littéraire in 2015, celebrates African authors and authors of African descent. It has been won by Mbarek Ould Beyrouk (2023) Imbolo Mbue (2022), Fiston Mwanza Mujila (2021), Ayobami Adebayo (2020), Elnathan John (2019), Kei Miller (2018), Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin (2017), and Hemley Boum (2016).
The 2024 reading committee pre-selected books published last year, and the finalists were made public on October 9 before the winner, Peace Adzo Medie’s novel Sa seule épouse, was announced on Monday.
Sa seule épouse is the French translation of His Only Wife, the debut novel of the Ghanaian academic who teaches at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. It depicts the journey of a woman who refuses to submit to the expectations imposed by society and men. The female protagonist confronts traditional norms of marriage and femininity, while asserting a strong and independent personal identity.
Medie will receive a cash prize of CHF6,000 and a work of art worth CHF3,000 created by the artist Momar Seck. There will also be a purchase of the rights to the award-winning novel by the publishing house Flore Zoa for its reissue and distribution free to young people in African countries where La CENE Littéraire operates.
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