Prix Kourouma 2021 longlist announced.

The writers who made the longlist for the Prix Kourouma 2021 were announced on Wednesday, April 28, 2021.

When legendary Ivorian author Ahmadou Kourouma passed away in 2003, the African salon at the Geneva Book Fair decided to pay tribute to him by creating a literary prize that bears his name in the following year. Awarded each year as part of the Geneva Book Fair, the Prix Ahmadou Kourouma rewards a French-speaking, African or African-born author from sub-Saharan Africa, for a fictional work – novel, story or short story – including the spirit of independence, lucidity and clairvoyance in the vein of the literary and humanist heritage bequeathed by the Ivorian novelist.

It has been won in the past by among others, Scholastique Mukasonga (2012), Tierno Monénembo (2013),  Mutt-Lon (2014),  Mohamed Mbougar Sarr (2015), Mbarek Ould Beyrouk (2016), Max Lobe (2017), Wilfried N’Sondé (2018), David Diop (2019), and Hemley Boum (2020).

The jury for this year’s award with Jacques Chevrier as Président includes Christine Le Quellec Cottier, Isabelle Rüf, Isabelle Chariatte, Romuald Fonkoua, Boniface Mongo Mboussa, and Nétonon Noël Ndjékéry. Those in the running for this year’s honours are;

• Perde le corps, Theo Ananissoh (Gallimard)
• Un pape noir au Vatican, Lucien Cyrille Ekeou (Le Lys Bleu)
• Abobo Marley, Yaya Diomandé (JC Lattès)
• Tison rouge, charbon noir, Moïse Doumou à Mvomo (Editions CLE)
• Black Manoo, Armand Patrick Gbaka-Brédé (dit GAUZ) (Le Nouvel Attila)
• Aline et les homme de guerre, Karine Silla (L’Observatoire)
• La Mer Noir dans les Grands Lacs, Annie Lulu (Julliard)
• Rumeurs d’Amérique, Alain Mabanckou (Plon)
• Bloody Kongo, Dina Mahoungou (L’Harmattan)
• La Danse du Vilain, Fiston Mwanza Mujila (Métaillé)
• Dans le ventre du Congo, Blaise Ndala (Seuil)
• Les Lumières d’Oujda, Marc Alexandre Oho Bambe (Calmann Lévy)
• L’Odyssée des oubliés, Khalil Diallo (L’Harmattan)
• Les eaux noires, Abdoul Kane (L’Harmattan)
• La société Kongo face à la colonisation portugaise 1885-1961, Mbala Lussunzi Vita (Paari)

The winner of the award, who gets a CHF5,000 cash prize, literary recognition and media coverage, will be announced at the Geneva Book Fair in November 2021.