French literary giants come to the US
Rare is the pleasure to meet two literary giants in one week. Even rarer is that they are the latest recipients of the Prix Goncourt, a top French literary award that has been recognizing exceptional prose for last 120 years, who just happened to be in New York at the same time.
Mohamed Mbougar Sarr won for his novel, La plus secrète mémoire des hommes, which is now available in English translation as The Most Secret Memory of Men. Brigitte Giraud won for her novel, Vivre vite (Living Fast), which I hope will quickly find its way to English translation. I am sparing plot summaries or reviews here. Suffice it to say that their works deserve greater awareness in the United States.
Both authors came to speak at events in New York. Joining Giraud was Laure Adler, an acclaimed writer, journalist, presidential advisor, and former director of France Culture, a division of Radio France. Incidentally, all three have spent considerable parts of their lives in Francophone Africa: Sarr hails from Senegal, Giraud lived in Algeria, and Adler spent her youth in Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire. These experiences emerge in their writing.
In addition to the authors, the locales of their recent speaking engagements also deserve mention. Sarr spoke at Albertine, a bookstore and event space that is part of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York, perched on 5th Avenue near the Guggenheim and the Frick Collection. A visit to Albertine for its books in French and English is a must.
Meanwhile, Giraud spoke at the Maison Française at New York University, which incidentally is headed by a previous finalist for the Prix Goncourt, François Noudelmann. Though the space is small, it boasts a large literary and cultural footprint in Greenwich Village.
Combined, these writers and their hosts made for an exceptional moment to savor. That these events were free and open to the public is a humble reminder that one does not have to travel all the way to France to enjoy some of its treasures. Merci indeed.