The novel ‘The Fortress of Tears’ by Moroccan writer Abdallah Taïa is in the running for the Prix littéraire awarded by the newspaper Le Monde to the best work of fiction of the new literary season in France. The award was created in 2013.
The jury, composed of journalists from the newspaper’s various sections and chaired by the newspaper’s director, is due to announce the winning novel in the supplement Le Monde des livres in the newspaper’s 6 September 2024 edition.
“La Forteresse des larmes” (The Fortress of Tears), published by Julliard, tells the story of Youssef, “a Moroccan teacher exiled in France for a quarter of a century, who returns to his home town of Salé at the request of his sisters to liquidate the family inheritance, and the whole past resurfaces, where suffering and happiness are inextricably intertwined…”.
Born in 1973 in Salé, Abdallah Taïa studied French literature at the Mohammed V University in Rabat before moving to Paris, where he obtained a doctorate in French literature at the Sorbonne. He is the author of several novels, including “Mon Maroc” (ed Séguier, 2000), “Infidèles” (ed Seuil, 2012), “Un pays pour mourir” (éd Seuil, 2015).
