On Friday, April 9, La CENE Littéraire will announce the 22 books shortlisted to compete in the 2021 edition of the PRIX LES AFRIQUES.
We thank the growing number of publishers who are willing to play the game and we are honoured by their enthusiasm in working with our association.
From the most mythical: Gallimard, HarperCollins, Buchet/Chastel, Plon etc. to the youngest: Sidney Laurent or Emmanuelle Collas, without forgetting those located in Africa, like Savanes du Continent, they each agreed to send us the 23 copies for each member of our reading committee.
We are delighted to discover all the new feathers like Mrs Christiane Taubira, but also to reread older writings that have already conquered us in the past like Mr Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin.
23 personalities from the African and African literary scene will be responsible for choosing the 5 books ( short list) that will be sent to the Jury. They are our Reading Committee (the first instance of our literary award). They come from different countries, cultures and backgrounds: Benin, Haiti, Senegal, Switzerland, France, Congo etc.They are bloggers, librarians, cultural journalists, writers, literature teachers, etc.
We will present them to you in the coming days.
We begin this day with:
1. Nicole Mballa-Mikolo
She is a Cameroonian journalist based in the Congo where she works as a sales manager in a multinational company. Writer, she is the author of the novel “The Broken Gourds”. His collection of poems “Létoile est ma demeure” has just been published by the Renaissance Africaine publisher.
2. Philippe Bonvin
He is a Swiss writer who works as a librarian in Geneva. He is a poet: his collection “Rwanda” was published in 2019 by the publisher Encre fraîche. He is also a short story writer, his short stories have been published in a collection entitled “Africa in 2040” published by the publisher Stellamaris.
