185 poems for the 4th edition of the Edouard Maunick Poetry Prize – Happy Few

One hundred Mauritians from here and elsewhere (Australia, Canada, France) participated in the fourth edition of the Edouard Maunick Poetry Prize whose theme is “Tomorrow, My Island”. The jury, which is chaired by author Ananda Devi, with Shenaz Patel and Kavinien Karupudayyan as members, received 185 poems including 92 in French, 55 in English, 36 in Mauritian Creole, as well as two trilingual poems. It will begin work in April 2023.
The winner of this poetry contest will win a prize of 60,000 rupees (1,200 euros) which will be awarded to him before the end of 2023.
The first edition of the Edouard Maunick Poetry Prize rewarded two joint winners: Gillian Geneviève and Helena Lutchman (2016-2017 Port-Louis). The winner of the second edition was Helina Hookoomsing (2018-2019 Cyclone). The third edition saw the consecration of three joint winners: Neekeea Ramen, Amit Parmessur and Joey Jean-Jacques Sauzier (2020-2021 Renaissances).
It is the IMMEDIA agency, whose director is Rama Poonoosamy, which has organized the Édouard Maunick poetry prize since 2006. This Mauritian poet (who was also a journalist and even an ambassador) whom the president-poet, Léopold Senghor, described as a “negro poet of the second generation”, disappeared in 2021. He remains one of the greatest poets of the Francophonie.