Le prix des 5 continents

French-language literature in the spotlight

Any author who writes in French and is published by a French-language publishing house is eligible for the ‘Prix des 5 continents’. The prize is a tribute to the richness of the French language and to the vast cultural diversity of which it is a reflection.

The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) established the prestigious prize in 2001. Every year the organization rewards ‘a narrative work of fiction that depicts a specific culture and enriches the French language’. Recent laureates include the Tunisians Yamen Manai and Fawzia Zouari, the Congolese In Koli Jean Bofane and the Algerian Kamel Daoud.

Reading committees and an international jury of writers

Vijf leescomités, in Frankrijk, Senegal, België, Canada en Congo, maken de eerste selectie voor de Prix des 5 continents.

each committee nominates ten books on the basis of the works’ intrinsic literary qualities and the prize’s specific criteria. The delegates of each committee then meet at the headquarters of the OIF in Paris and draw up a shortlist with ten finalists.

Passa Porta is in charge of the Belgian reading committee. In close collaboration with the department ‘Promotion des Lettres’ of the French-speaking Community/Wallonia-Brussels Federation, our house selects four reading committee members from the literary world. For the 2021 edition, the Belgian reading committee consists of Dulia Lengema, Nicole Debarre, Maud Joiret, Nausica Dewez and Michel Torrekens..

An 11-member jury composed of renowned writers, who all come from the Francophonie, deliberates over the ten shortlisted titles. The jury is presided by Paula Jacques (France/Egypt) and consists of J.M.G. Le Clézio (Mauritius), Lise Bissonnette (Canada), Ananda Devi (Mauritius), Hubert Haddad (Tunisia/France), Monique Ilboudo (Burkina Faso), Vénus Khoury-Ghata (Lebanon), René de Obaldia (Hong Kong), Lyonel Trouillot (Haiti) and the prize’s most recent laureate.