Youssouf Amine Elalamy, Nina Bouraoui Finalists for 2020 ‘Prix des cinq continents’

Books by Moroccan writer Youssouf Amine Elalamy and Algerian-French writer Nina Bouraoui made this year’s Prix des cinq continents:

Each year, the Five Continents Prize goes to a work of narrative fiction — a novel or or collection of short stories — written in French. Ten books from eight countries are in the running for the 2020 prize.

C’est beau la guerre (War is Beautiful) by Moroccan novelist Youssouf Amine Elalamy, was published in Morocco by Le Fennec in October 2019, and Otages (Hostages) by Algerian-French writerNina Bouraoui was published published in France by Lattès in January of this year.

The jury, is chaired by Egyptian-French writer Paula Jacques and will meet later this year to choose the 2020 winner. The award ceremony is set to be held in Tunis at the start of 2021; the International Organization of Francophonie will then promote the winner during the following year.

The prize grants €15,000 for the winner and € 5,000 to a special mention.

Other members of the jury include Lise Bissonnette, Ananda Devi, Hubert Haddad, Monique Ilboudo, Vénus Khoury-Ghata, Liliana Lazar, Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, Wilfried N’Sondé, René de Obaldia, Lyonel Trouillot, Abdourahman Waberi, Jun Xu, and Gilles Jobidon.