JOEL SAGET / AFP
“Jacaranda”, the second novel by Gaël Faye, wins the 2024 Renaudot prize.
LITERATURE – The literary prize season is coming to an end. This Monday, November 4, the members of the Renaudot Prize jury met to designate the successor ofAnn Scott and his book The Insolents. In an announcement concomitant with that of the price Goncourtthe jurors present at the Drouant restaurant decided to crown Gaël Faye for his novel Jacaranda.
Gaël Faye wins against the four other finalists: Élisabeth Barillé for The Sisters and other living species (Arléa), Antoine Choplin for The Boat of Masao (Buchet Chastel), Kamel Daoud for Houris (Gallimard) and Olivier Norek for Winter Warriors (Michel Lafon).
In Jacarandahe delivers a story that spans four generations of characters, recounting the history of Rwanda. It is also that of an exile, Milan, who never knew his native country but who returns to live there to find his roots, in a country greatly marked by the genocide of the Tutsis in 1994.
The author, born in Bujumbura in Burundi, himself comes from a Rwandan refugee mother. Following the civil war in Burundi in 1993, which led to the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda, he fled his native country for France. He was inspired by his story for his first work Small Countrywho had received numerous distinctions including the Goncourt Prize for high school students in 2016.
Finalist for the Goncourt Prize
The Renaudot Prize is awarded each year by a jury composed of ten writers, journalists and/or literary critics: Jean-Noël Pancrazi, Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud, Dominique Bona, Franz-Olivier Giesbert, Patrick Besson, JMG Le Clézio, Frédéric Beigbeder, Cécile Guilbert, Stéphanie Janicot and Mohammed Aïssaoui. In the event of a blockage during the 10th ballot, the president’s vote (which changes each year) counts double, and it was Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio who officiated this function this year.
In 2023, these same jurors awarded the prize to the book THE Insolent by Ann Scott, who followed the new life of Alex, a film music composer, who decides at the age of 45 to leave Paris and her best friends Jacques and Margot to reinvent herself.
The Renaudot Prize, the first edition of which dates back to 1926, was created while waiting for the 1925 Goncourt Prize to be awarded. It is designated on the same day and in the same place as its prestigious counterpart, taking into account its winner and those of the Interallié, Femina and Médicis prizes. Thus, an author who has already received a previous literary prize (including the Renaudot itself), cannot normally access the award.
This year, Gaël Faye and Jacaranda were also finalists for the Goncourt prize won by Kamel Daoud and his novel Houris.
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