Elnathan John wins French prize worth €8,400

Nigerian writer, Elnathan John, has won the 2019 Prix Les Afriques for ‘Né un Mardi’, the French translation of his novel ‘Born On A Tuesday’. He receives a cash prize of €5,400, artwork worth €3000 and the purchase of 100 copies of his book at a ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland on June 29, 2019. The […]

Nigerian writer, Elnathan John, has won the 2019 Prix Les Afriques for ‘Né un Mardi’, the French translation of his novel ‘Born On A Tuesday’. He receives a cash prize of €5,400, artwork worth €3000 and the purchase of 100 copies of his book at a ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland on June 29, 2019.

The chair of the award jury, Ambroise Kom, described the novel as “a powerful first novel, perfectly handled, that immerses us in contemporary Nigeria, paints a complex portrait of the West African giant in full mutation and in the grip of an unprecedented religious, social and economic crisis.”

The award was created by the association La Cene Littéraire, and presented annually to a writer of African descent whose fiction work highlights a human, societal, ideological, political, cultural, economic or historical issue related to Africa or its diaspora.

The Prix Les Afriques also aims at giving exposure to African authors and authors of African descent. The winner for last year was Kei Miller.