The Algerian writer Kamel Daoud is the winner of the Goncourt Prize

Kamel Daoud will be announced as the winner of the Goncourt Prize, according to well-informed sources. Political considerations, notably the ban on Gallimard at the Algiers Book Fair this year, have weighed on the jury’s decision.

The Algerian authorities are strongly afraid that the prize will be awarded to Kamel Daoud. They are frightened by the idea that he might receive the Goncourt. The consecration of this writer, who is disliked by the Algerian power, is seen as a terrible failure for the proponents of mediocrity who have banished Kamel Daoud from cultural and intellectual circles.

In the eyes of the Algerian rulers, Kamel Daoud is accused of treason against Algeria. He is accused of using slander against a regime that establishes its dominance through repression, corruption, and blackmail. These same rulers want to portray him as a former Islamist sold to France, and guilty of domestic violence. The Algerian government is exerting pressure on the Goncourt jury and also on the writer himself through anonymous messages, anonymous phone calls, and intimidation in the streets. He has confided to sources close to him that he feels anxious despite the commercial success of his book. Kamel Daoud is binational, holding both Algerian and French nationality, and is a former columnist for Quotidien d’Oran.

In his finalist book “Houris,” Kamel Daoud tackles the “black decade” of the 1990s head-on through the voice of Aube, a survivor who has become mute and who lost her entire family in a brutal massacre, and who now questions the meaning of bringing new life into a world marked by violence and repression. The novel reveals the trauma of those who lived through this period, exploring the themes of survival, resilience, and the painful silence surrounding this conflict, which is still a taboo in Algeria. Daoud infuses Aube’s story with political urgency, questioning the consequences of extremism and censorship, and inviting discussion about the black decade and the cost of the forgetfulness imposed by the military regime in Algiers.

Special correspondence.