For 10 years, the RFI Theater Prize has revealed a new generation of French-speaking authors. For this 11th edition, the reading committee of the Collective À mots Découverts received 138 applications from 16 countries in Africa, the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean (excluding Overseas France), the Near and Middle East and the Maghreb.

The largest number of candidates comes from Cameroon, followed by Benin, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Haiti.

13 finalist texts (2024 Selection):

"Agoodjié" by Nathalie Hounvo Yekpe (Benin)

"Arbre à pépins" by Djo Ngeleka (DRC)

"Asphaltage" in Bokango by Yelinan Germain Oussou (Benin)

Brigitte en diablée by Erickson Jeudy aka "Rick de l’ile" (Haiti)

In 1790, in Santo Domingo, a woman, Brigitte, a former freed slave banished from plantations and now a midwife, was accused of the murders of several children. The colonial guards come to arrest her. As a freedwoman, she had the privilege of giving a speech before the sentence. Will she be able to justify her actions ? A powerful and luminous text on the price of freedom.

"Cadavres dans le bas-ventre" by Jocelyn Danga (DRC)

"Enfant" by Gad Bensalem (Madagascar)

"En route" by Amadou Bouna Guazong (Cameroon)

"L’honneur des hommes" by Sandra Elong (Cameroon)

"Louve-garou" by Gael Thêgoun Hounkpatin (Benin)

On ne part pas en guerre avec une vie qui danse by Phanne Lincifort (Haiti)

A woman awaits execution in prison, she killed her nine attackers and aborted the rape child. She summons, through a voodoo ritual, this unborn child to get to know him and return to what led her to deny him life, as a final gesture of resistance to horror. A harsh and powerful writing that unfolds the Haitian drama through the prism of the women's struggle.

Perejil by Melissa Beralus (Haiti)

As Anacaona prepares to go into exile in the Dominican Republic to escape the massacres perpetrated by gangs in Port-au-Prince and in the provincial towns of Haiti, her grandmother Tifi breaks her silence and tells her about the Persil massacre (pérejil) that she experienced there in the neighboring country. Anacaona questions her right to live, to live well, to leave, to stay. A dialogue of great sensitivity which revisits the history of Haiti in an inspired language.

"Silence" by Israel Nzila (DRC)

"Trois petits sauts" by Salimata Togora (Mali)

A jury of artists and performing arts professionals, chaired this year by the Franco-Congolese author Dieudonné Niangouna, will determine the winner from among the 13 shortlisted texts.

HL/ HaitiLibre