The young Haitian author Phew Laroc who is one of the twelve winners of the 33rd “Prix du Jeune Écrivain de Langue Française”, received his literary award, this week, in Paris.
In September 2017, the jury of the 33rd “Prix du Jeune Écrivain de Langue Française” (French Language Young Writer Prize) selected Phew Laroc for his short story intitled “Ce que nous avons fait l’automne dernier” (What we did last fall) among the twelve winners chosen every year.
Last week, as expected, the young writer (25-years-old) from Haiti and the eleven other recipients from Canada, Switzerland, Italy and France had a meeting in Paris to receive their prize and, above all, know their final rank in this literary competition.
On Saturday, March 17, the winners went to the Salon du Livre de Paris (Paris Book Fair) where the prize-list was proclaimed, they also presented and signed the collection gathering the twelve selected short stories that was published this March by Éditions Buchet/Chastel and prefaced by Alain Absire, the president of the jury. On Wednesday, March 21 in the evening, the great award ceremony was held in the Théâtre Municipal Marc Sebbah in Muret during which Phew Laroc’s short story “Ce que nous avons fait l’automne dernier” which deals with harassment at school was ranked 5th.
This is an excellent reward because for this 33th edition, the organizers received 893 manuscripts from candidates of 56 nationalities of which 408 came from France and 485 from other countries. This result is very encouraging if the young man decides to start a career as a writer after his university studies in sociology.
A week full of activities and emotions
During this week which was very full of activities (theater, visits etc.) and emotions, the winners also went to Pierre d’Aragon High School in Muret, where is the headquarters of the PJE. They talked with high school students who had read their texts ; they awarded the “Prix du Jeune Lecteur” (Young Reader Prize) to Éléonore Dehombreux for her short story called “Les arbres sont plus beaux au Printemps” (The trees are more beautiful in Spring). The young Belgian candidate who just lost a member of her family and is doing a very strict vocational training could not make the trip to France. Another winner was absent : Morgane Russeil, author of “Chants des Grillons, un jour d’été” (Cricket chirp, a summer day) who is currently on a course in Chile.
Phew Laroc returns to Haiti this Sunday, March 25, keeping an excellent memory of this moment spent with young people his age passionate about writing. “In spite of the cold to which I was unaccustomed, I had a great time, especially with my co-winners. It was so great to meet other young people, it’was one of the best awards of the prize. I’m rather proud but I know I still have to work a lot. I’m proud to have been able to represent the South in the ranking and I hope that there will be many more young people from this region of the world who will be awarded in this competition. I was also happy to finally meet Ananda Devi”, he says.
