Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credits: JOEL SAGET / AFP 13:50 p.m., November 06, 2023

With "Triste tigre", a story of incest of which she was a victim as a child, and an essay on sexual violence, Neige Sinno won the 2023 Femina Prize on Monday. "The subject of my book is not a subject of woman, man or other," she said after the award was announced.

The Femina Prize was awarded on Monday to 46-year-old Neige Sinno for Triste tigre (POL editions), a story of the incest she suffered as a child, and an essay on sexual violence. Neige Sinno, who was the favourite for the prize, received nine out of 12 votes from the all-female jury in the first round.

The winner is also a finalist for the Prix Goncourt

"The subject that my book deals with is not a subject of women, men or others," she said after the award was announced at the Musée Carnavalet in Paris. "It reminds me of my thesis defense where there were also only women in the professors. (...) It's also a source of pride to be encouraged," she added.

Neige Sinno is also a finalist for the Prix Goncourt, awarded on Tuesday. It is not expected to receive a major autumn literary prize for a second consecutive day, which leaves three possible winners: Jean-Baptiste Andrea, Gaspard Koenig and Eric Reinhardt.

The Femina Prize for Foreign Novels awarded to Louise Erdrich

The Prix Femina for Best Foreign Novel was awarded to 69-year-old American Louise Erdrich for La Sentence (Albin Michel), the story of an Amerindian bookseller confronted with the ghosts of the past and the racism of the present. Present at the award ceremony, the author recalled that she ran a bookstore in Minneapolis, in the north of the United States, devoted to indigenous literature, as the heroine of the novel. "It's also a haunted place," she said. The American novelist received seven out of 12 votes in the first round.

Finally, the jury awarded its essay prize, by nine votes in the first round, to Hugo Micheron, 35, a specialist in jihadism, for La Colère et l'Oubli (Gallimard). The essay looks at radical and violent Islamist movements in Europe after the collapse of the Islamic State organization in Syria. The author said he was happy with the consecration of "three years of work". "For me, a book is feminine. And to receive this award is the greatest reward for me," he said.