The Prix Goncourt is the most prestigious literary prize in France, and is awarded by the Académie Goncourt, a jury composed of literary figures: Didier Decoin, Françoise Chandernagor, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Paule Constant, Philippe Claudel, Pierre Assouline, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, Camille Laurens, Pascal Bruckner and Christine Angot.
About the novel, the Académie Goncourt declares: “Avec Houris, l’Académie Goncourt couronne un livre où le lyrisme dispute au tragique, et qui donne voix aux souffrances liées à une période noire de l’Algérie, celles des femmes en particulier. Ce roman montre combien la littérature, dans sa haute liberté d’auscultation du réel, sa densité émotionnelle, trace aux côtés du récit historique d’un peuple, un autre chemin mémoire.” (‘With Houris, the Académie Goncourt rewards a book of lyricism and tragedy, that gives voice to the suffering associated with a dark period for Algeria’s history, particularly that of women’s. This novel shows the extent to which literature, with its freedom to examine reality and its emotional density, can trace another path of memory alongside the historical narrative of people’. )
In recent years, Kamel Daoud has been at the French Institute on two occasions:
Kamel Daoud in Conversation with Anne-Sylvaine Chassany
21 October 2021 at the French Institute
The Outsiders – Talk & Readings with Ben Okri and Agnès Poirier
17 May 2022, as part of Beyond Words Festival
