The Femina Prize was awarded on Monday November 6th to Neige Sinno for her novel sad tiger, Story of the incest she was a victim of as a child and essay on sexual violence. Neige Sinno, who was considered the favorite for this award and is also a finalist for the Goncourt Prize, received 9 out of 12 votes in the first round of Femina.
“The topic my book deals with is neither for women, nor for men, nor for anyone else.” she explained after the award was announced at the Musée Carnavalet in Paris. “It reminds me of defending my dissertation, where there were only women among the professors. (…) Additionally, being encouraged is a source of pride.” She added.
Neige Sinno is also a finalist for the Goncourt Prize, which will be awarded on Tuesday. She is unlikely to receive a major autumn literary prize for the second time in a row, leaving a priori three possible winners: Jean-Baptiste Andrea, Gaspard Koenig and Éric Reinhardt.
Foreign Novel Prize
The Femina Prize for Foreign Novels went to the American Louise Erdrich, 69, for Sentence (Albin Michel), story of a Native American bookseller who is confronted with the ghosts of the past and the racism of the present.
The author, present at the award ceremony, recalled that, like the heroine of the novel, she ran a bookstore dedicated to indigenous literature in Minneapolis, in the northern United States. “It’s also a haunted place.” she pointed out. The American writer received 7 out of 12 votes in the first round of voting.
Finally, the jury awarded its essay prize with nine votes in the first round to Hugo Micheron, 35, a specialist in jihadism Anger and forgetting (Gallimard). The essay examines radical and violent Islamist movements in Europe following the collapse of the Islamic State organization in Syria.
The author said he was happy with the consecration “Three years of work”. “For me, a book is feminine. And receiving this award is the greatest reward for me.” he said.
Previous winners
The all-female jury, which makes the Femina Prize unique, crowned Neige Sinno ahead of four other finalists: lightningde Pierric Bailly (POL); To my only sisterde Guy Boley (Grasset); Sand dealerby Agnès Mathieu-Daudé (Flammarion) and take care of herby Jean-Baptiste Andrea (The Iconoclast).
Last year, the 2022 French Novel Prize was awarded to Claudie Hunzinger A dog at my table(Grassett). Annette Wieworka received the essay prize for Graves. Autobiography of my family (Threshold), while the Foreign Novel Prize went to Britain’s Rachel Cusk The addiction (Gallimard).
Tomorrow the judges from Renaudot and Goncourt will have to choose their winner.
