Diaty Diallo and Leila Mottley are on the finalists lists of the Prix Médicis 2022 announced on Tuesday, October 11, 2022.
The Prix Médicis was founded by Gala Barbisan and Jean-Pierre Giraudoux to recognise a novel, a story, a collection of short stories whose author begins or does not yet have a notoriety corresponding to his talent. The first edition was hosted in 1958 and since 1970, a foreign Prix Médicis, and since 1985, a Médicis essay prize, have been awarded on the same day. Some of the previous winners of the prize have been Dany Laferrière, Chloé Delaume, Orhan Pamuk, André Brink, and Emmanuèle Bernheim.
The jury for 2022 comprises Marianne Alphant, Michel Braudeau, Marie Darrieussecq, Dominique Fernandez, Anne F. Garréta, Patrick Grainville, Andreï Makine, Frédéric Mitterrand, Pascale Roze and Alain Veinstein.
The finalists for the awards were announced in the different categories and the following writers of African descent made the cut:
French novels
- Deux secondes d’air qui brûle, Diaty Diallo (Seuil)
Foreign novels
- Arpenter la nuit, by Leila Mottley, translated from English by Pauline Loquin (Albin Michel)
The winners of the awards will be revealed at a ceremony on November 7.
