Title:
Mohamed Mbougar Sarr: Senegalese novelist’s win is a landmark for African literature
Author:
Caroline D. Laurent
Assistant Professor, American University of Paris (AUP)
Published:
The Conversation, 9 November 2021
From the article:
The Prix Goncourt – the oldest and most prestigious literary prize in France – has been awarded to 31-year-old Mohamed Mbougar Sarr from Senegal. He’s the youngest winner since 1976 and the first from sub-Saharan Africa. Critics have been raving about The Most Secret Memory of Men, his novel about a young Senegalese writer living in Paris. The jury made a unanimous decision to award Mbougar Sarr the prize after just one round of voting, calling his work “a hymn to literature”. The prize will bring him literary fame and huge book sales, says Caroline D. Laurent, a specialist in Francophone African literature in France. We asked her more.