The prestigious Prix Goncourt 2024 has just been announced! It was awarded to writer and journalist Kamel Daoud for his book Houris. The author, honored for his third novel, received the award at a ceremony held at the famous Parisian restaurant Drouant, located in the capital's 2nd arrondissement. Houris is a work that stands out for its content, banned in Algeria because it evokes the civil war between 1992 and 2022. This novel follows the consecration of Jean-Baptiste Andrea 's Veiller sur Elle in 2023, against a backdrop of internal dissension within the Goncourt jury.
In detail, Houris plunges readers into the horror of the massacres of Algeria's"black decade". The story centers on Aube, a young girl who is mute after a failed attempt to have her throat cut at the age of 5. The novel, published by Gallimard,"gives voice to the suffering associated with a dark period in Algeria, particularly that of women", explains Philippe Claudel, head of the Goncourt Prize. He continues:"This novel shows how literature, with its freedom to examine reality and its emotional density, traces another path of memory alongside the historical narrative of a people".
Kamel Daoud 's career is as fascinating as his writing, renowned for his incisive style and keen analysis of Algerian society. Born in 1970 in Mostaganem, he first made a name for himself as a journalist with Le Quotidien d'Oran, where he distinguished himself with his committed and critical columns. His first novel, Meursault, contre-enquête, published in 2013, revisits the world ofAlbert Camus 's L'Étranger, and has won numerous awards for its literary audacity and reflection on identity and postcolonial memory. A prolific writer, Kamel Daoud has continued to explore issues of religion, culture and politics in his essays and novels, attracting a wide international audience.
This recognition comes on top of his Prix de laïcité won in 2020. The novel is now available in bookshops everywhere!
