Kamel Daoud won the Prix Goncourt for Houris, a novel set in Algeria's civil war. The book, banned in Algeria, powerfully tackles themes of tragedy and resilience, giving voice to a woman’s trauma amid societal repression.
French-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud won France's top literary prize, the Goncourt, on Monday for a novel centered on Algeria's civil war between the government and Islamists in the 1990s. The jury needed just one round of voting to award the coveted prize to Daoud for his novel Houris, which explores what has become known as Algeria's "Black Decade."
The book, written in French, is banned in Algeria.
Daoud first gained international recognition with his 2013 debut novel The Meursault Investigation — a retelling of Albert Camus' The Stranger from an alternate perspective — for which he won the First Novel category of the Goncourt prize. The former journalist and columnist in Algeria has since stirred controversy with his critiques of Algerian society and other Arab nations.
In 2016, following numerous cases of sexual assault on women by Arab migrants in Cologne, Germany, Daoud published an op-ed in the New York Times titled The Sexual Misery of the Arab World. He remarked that "in some of Allah's lands, the war on women and on couples has the air of an inquisition," concluding that "sex in the Muslim world is sick."
Daoud frequently comments on issues in Muslim countries. Most recently, he posted on social media about Iranian authorities arresting a female student who staged a solo protest against harassment by stripping to her underwear outside her university. His post on X included a color photo of the woman surrounded by men and veiled women in black and white, captioned with a single word: "Iran."
Winning the prestigious Goncourt prize typically boosts book sales into the hundreds of thousands for the recipient. However, the prize money itself amounts to just 10 euros ($11), usually kept by winners as a framed cheque.
Houris — its title referring to beautiful, virginal companions promised to faithful Muslim men in paradise — tells the story of a young woman who loses her voice when an Islamist cuts her throat as she witnesses her family’s massacre during the civil war. She later recounts her experiences through an internal monologue to her unborn child.
“With Houris, the Goncourt Academy has crowned a book in which lyricism duels with tragedy, giving voice to the suffering linked to a dark time in Algeria, especially for women,” said Goncourt president Philippe Claudel.
Through his novel, Daoud challenges Algeria's ongoing reluctance to address the war that began in January 1992 and resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, with some estimates as high as 200,000. It remains illegal in Algeria to publish investigations into the civil war that erupted after the government canceled an election, leading to an armed uprising by fundamentalist guerrilla groups.
Daoud explained that publishing Houris was possible “because I came to France,” where he was granted “the freedom to write.” The 54-year-old, who left his hometown of Oran in Algeria, was given French citizenship “due to circumstances.”
Diplomatic tensions between France and Algeria are currently high, partly due to President Emmanuel Macron's closer ties with Morocco, Algeria's regional rival. Gallimard, Houris’ French publisher, was barred from participating in this month's Algiers International Book Fair.
“Given the state of the world today, it is admirable to highlight a writer and a book describing war,” Daoud said, calling the award “a powerful signal.” He expressed happiness about the win, though he admitted, “it’s cliché to say so.”
Daoud’s main rival for this year's prize was Gaël Faye, a Rwandan-born writer, composer, and rapper. Faye's novel Jacaranda focuses on Rwanda’s post-genocide rebuilding. While Faye missed out on the Goncourt, he won the Renaudot prize, another coveted honor in the French literary season.
President Macron congratulated both writers on X, saying, “Thanks to their voices, our French language expresses beauty, tragedy, and universality even better.”
With AFP
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