Tunisia’s Golden Comar Prize 2018 award winners announced.

The winners of the Golden Comar Prize 2018 award were announced in Tunis, Tunisia on April 28, 2019.

The Golden Comar Prize was created in 1997 by the insurance company Compagnie Méditerranéenne d’assurances et de Réassurances (Comar) by Rachid Ben Jemia to support literary creation, and encourage Tunisian writers, especially novelists.

The prize which is Tunisia’s top literary award is handed out for writing in French and Arabic. Previous winners have been Mouldi Dhaou, Hanene Jenane, Mohamed Harmel, and Wafa Ghorbel in 2016; as well as Béchir Garbouj and Yemen Mannai in 2017.

The judges of the award for 2018 in the Arabic section were Ridha Kefi, Mohamed Mahjoub, Moncef Louhaibi, Neziha Khlifi, and Massouda Ben Boubaker. The French language section had Samir Marzouki, Anouar Attia, Kamel Ben Ouanès, Ahlem Ghayeza, and Meriem Belkadhi. This jury would announce the following writers at the ceremony at the Municipal Theatre of Tunis (Théâtre Municipal de Tunis) as the best in Tunisian literature for the last year.

Arabic language.

• Golden Comar 2018 – Khairia Boubtane for Ibnatou El Jaheem (The Daughter of Hell).
• Jury Special Prize – Ines Al Abbasi for Menzel Bourguiba.
• Discovery Prize – Safia Gam Ben Abdeljelil for Layta Chahdan…! (If only Chahd…!.)

French language

• Golden Comar 2018 –Ali Bécheur for novel Les Lendemains d’hier (The Tomorrows of Yesterday).
• Jury Special Prize – Ridha Ben Hamouda for La Marmite d’Ayoub (Ayoub’s Cooking-pot).
• Discovery Prize – Not awarded.

For a better report from the award night from Tunisia please visit our friends at Tunisian Lit. The image used in this post is credited to Radio Tunisie Culture.