Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, Amélie Nothomb Literary prizes not to be missed! -RollingStone

The Goncourt and Renaudot prizes fell this week, respectively crowning Mohamed Mbougar Sarr and Amélie Nothomb

A little reading? This week, two remarkable prices fell, with the overriding theme: memory, heritage. First of all, the Goncourt 2021 was won by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr and his novel La Plus Secrète Mémoire des hommes (Philippe Rey/Jimsaan), then the Renaudot 2021 prize by the Belgian Amélie Nothomb and the fictional memoirs of her father, Premier blood (Albin Michel).

Mohamed Mbougar Sarr won the prize notably against Christine Angot for Le Voyage dans l’Est (Flammarion) and Sorj Chalandon for Enfant de salaud (Grasset). The novel immerses us in 2018, when Diégane Latyr Faye, a young Senegalese writer, discovers in Paris a mythical book, published in 1938: The labyrinth of the inhuman. We have lost track of its author, described in his time as “Rimbaud nègre”, since the scandal triggered by the publication of his text. Diégane then embarks, fascinated, on the trail of the mysterious T.C. Elimane, confronting the great tragedies of colonialism or the Shoah. From Senegal to France via Argentina, what truth awaits him at the center of this labyrinth? Without ever losing the thread of this quest which monopolizes him, Diégane, in Paris, frequents a group of young African authors: all observe each other, discuss, drink, make love a lot, and wonder about the need for creation from exile. He will especially focus on two women: the sulphurous Siga, holder of secrets, and the fleeting photojournalist Aïda…

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The Most Secret Memory of Men has been available since this summer (Philippe Ray). Buy.

For her part, Amélie Nothomb, winner of the Renaudot prize against Anne Berest and Abel Quentin for her book First Blood, immerses us in the "memories" of her father, who died during the year 2020. Under the In the form of a tale, Nothomb thus recounts the life of Patrick, his father, a sweet angelic child who, as a young adult, will have to face death. “There, really, I want to say: dad, we have the price!,” exclaimed Amélie Nothomb, when she heard the news.

Premier Sang is also available since this summer (Albin Michel). Buy.