Africa was honored on Thursday evening during the Publishing Trophies in France, with the Cameroonian Djaïli Amadou Amal as author of the year, and as publishing house of the year Philippe Rey, which publishes the Senegalese Mohamed Mbougar Sarr.
Djaïli Amadou Amal’s fourth novel, “Les Impatientes” (Éditions Emmanuelle Collas), had had unexpected success by being a finalist for the Goncourt 2020 prize, then winning the Goncourt des lycéens. The fifth will be called “Heart of the Sahel”.
“I am particularly moved, proud to have this prize. Literature saved my life. It is thanks to literature that I am here today”, declared the winner on the stage of the theater of the Odeon in Paris.
Philippe Rey, founder of the editions of the same name in 2002, saw his passion for the literature of the Francophonie rewarded when one of his young authors, a 31-year-old Senegalese, received the Goncourt.
“In literature, the publisher is always small. The work and the author are great,” said Mr. Rey when receiving his prize. He greeted Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, “engaged in a road trip which takes more from Miss France than from a writer” after his Goncourt.
The prize for international success was awarded to “Frère d’âme” by Franco-Senegalese David Diop.
The Trophies are the result of a jury or the vote of the readers of the magazine Livres Hebdo, mainly professionals in the sector.
Among the other awards presented, the publisher of the year trophy was awarded to Cécile Térouanne of Hachette Livre, and that of the audiovisual adaptation to Auzou editions for that of “Loup”.
The comic book publishers won three trophies: the Belgian Casterman that of sustainable development for its Green planet collection, its French rival Dargaud that of digital innovation for its daily newspaper on Instagram called Mâtin, and the manga specialist Kazé that of the communication for his fresco on the windows of the François-Mitterrand library.
The trophy for artistic conception went to Denoël for “Le Proustographe” by Nicolas Ragonneau, that for the manufacture of the book to Éditions des Grandes Hommes for an entirely white 3D book, “La Nature au bout des rouges”, and that for the enhancement of the Seghers fund for its Carré poetry collection.
Initially scheduled for December, the ceremony for these 2021 Trophies had been postponed to spring due to the Covid-19 epidemic.