Haiti - Literature: Kettly Mars, Prix Ivoire of African Literature 2015

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Haiti - Literature: Kettly Mars, Prix Ivoire of African Literature 2015
25/11/2015 10:45:20

Saturday, during a gala dinner held at the Palace of Culture of Treichville, Abidjan (Ivory Coast), in the presence of professionals and friends of the book, the jury awarded the Prix Ivoire for African Francophone literature of to the Haitian writer Kettly Mars (born in 1958 in Port-au-Prince where she lives), for her novel « Je suis vivant » published in 2015 to the Editions Mercure de France.   

Seven books were in the running : 

Florent Couao-zotti (Benin), « La traque de la musaraigne », polar, éd. Jigal ;
 
Eric Essono Tsimi (Cameroon), « Migrants diaries », roman, éd. Présence Africaine, 2014 ; 
Kettly Mars (HAITI « Je suis vivant » éd. Mercure de France, 2015 (Prix ivoire 2015) ; 
Imane Naciri (Morocco), « Ultimes confessions », nouvelles, éd. La Croisée Des Chemins, 2014 ; 
Fathia Radjabou (Comores) « Je ne sais pas quoi faire de ma vie...» nouvelles, éd. Présence Africaine, 2014, (mention spécial du Jury ) ; 
Alain Tailly (Ivory Coast),« John Ziguehi » récit, Frat-Mat Editions, 2015 ; 
Henri-Michel Yéré (Ivory Coast), « Mil neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix », poésie, éd. Panafrika/ Nouvelles du Sud, 2015.

 
The jury, chaired by writer Werewere-Liking (Prix Noma 2005), awarded the Prix Ivoire to Kettly Mars, a author whose book, « carried by a light writing, catchy, sets vis-à-vis the love of a people for his land deconstructed by an earthquake and inexhaustible love of a family for a son deconstructed by the disease. Uppercase energies deployed to refloating the injured earth and man defeated by schizophrenia, make the winning work a great song of the reappropriation of self and of the rebuilding of the inner worlds. The jury was sensitive to the polyphonic singing of this work to the fragmented narrative, placing piecemeal. The reader is found, not in front of a novel, but before a huge figurative painting made to several hands, with the temperament and energy of each of the characters summoned by author ».

  On receiving the Prix, Kettly Mars has moved declare « Dear friends, I am very happy to be here and moved by the honor you have done me by awarding me the Prix Ivoire of African Francophone Literature of Expression. Thank you toc makes me enter the Africa through the front door. I had the joy of receiving several literary awards in my writing career, but the award of this Prix Ivoire touches me in a special way. The jury, with the requirement and rigor that characterize their work, enjoyed my work and have valued it [...]   

This opening of the Prix Ivoire to the diaspora scattered around the world, following the regulations of African Unity, is an outstretched hand, a generous gesture and humanist that ennobles its promoters and for which I thank them on behalf of this sixth region. But I hasten to add that the merit of this distinction is not to my person only. Many supported me and helped me build. I can not mention all of them. I just mention my parents, my family, known and unknown friends who have their trust in me [...] Let them receive my gratitude and friendship ».  

HL/ HaitiLibre