Paris (AFP)
Serge Joncour, with "Human Nature", won the Femina prize for the French novel on Monday, while most of the other literary awards have postponed their edition pending the reopening of bookstores.
With "Human Nature" (Flammarion), Serge Joncour, 58, signs a great rural novel which depicts the changes in France at the end of the 20th century, through the fate of a family of farmers in the South West.
The Femina prize for foreign novel went to the Briton of South African origin Deborah Levy, for her autobiographical diptych, "The Cost of Life" and "What I don't want to know" (Editions du Sous-Sol).
Christophe Granger, for "Joseph Kabris or the possibilities of a life" (Anamosa), wins the prize for the essay.
Finally, a "Special Jury Prize" was awarded to the Lebanese Charif Majdalani, for "Beirut 2020" (Actes Sud).
The exclusively female jury distinguished itself from other prizes (such as the Goncourt or L'Interallié, postponed indefinitely) by considering that it was better to hand over its prize despite the confinement which prohibits the opening of "non-essential" shops. , including bookstores.
"The annual literary awards event constitutes a major act of support for all the players in the book chain, publishers, booksellers and authors who, at the moment, are resisting by all means to contrary circumstances. We are fully in solidarity with the booksellers ", explained the Femina jury.
© 2020 AFP