Selected last week in the first list of the Renaudot prize for his first novel, Ce que je sais de toi, the Quebecer Éric Chacour found himself in that of Femina on Tuesday.
“The Renaudot and the Femina in the selection are quite incredible. It’s incredible,” the author told La Presse, contacted in France where he is currently on the promotional tour for his book.
What I Know About You tells the fate of Tarek, a doctor in Cairo in the 1980s who will be driven into exile; it was published in January in Quebec by Alto and it came third in the best-selling novels as part of the August 12, I’m buying a Quebec book movement. In France, it was published on August 24 by publisher Philippe Rey and is already in its third printing. He also won the Première Plume prize in France two weeks ago, which aims to highlight emerging authors, and was among the five finalists for the Prix du Roman Fnac in August.
“The story I’m telling takes place in my parents’ Egypt,” emphasized Éric Chacour on the other end of the phone. They experienced a form of exile, just like many of their friends, and it was a form of inspiration. But myself, when I left [Montreal] at 10 and came to live in France, where I lived for several years, I experienced this feeling of uprooting. And I think I wanted to talk about this fragility, the fact, at a moment in one’s life, of feeling like a foreigner everywhere – the place where one comes from, but also the place where we arrive. »
Visiting many book fairs in Europe, Éric Chacour says that his book owes a large part of its success to booksellers as well as word of mouth. “Sometimes I feel a bit like it’s a magic trick and people think that just because I’m the author, I’m also the magician. But the truth is, I don’t know; I witness the magic trick like the others (laughs). I think everyone is touched by different themes; some only talk to me about the theme of exile and I guess that they have a certain intimacy with the question, others are very touched by the homosexual love relationship or will talk to me about filiation. »
The author, who works in finance, but who says he has always loved writing, since the songs without music that he wrote while dreaming that someone would sing them, confirms that these selections certainly make him want to continue writing. “To let go of everything, no; I think it’s important to exercise several parts of the brain and I really like the job I do. But I am sure that the place of writing in my life will undoubtedly be more important. The first one took me a few years to write; now I think I’m going to be a little more studious in my writing slots,” he added.
He is the third Quebecer to appear in the lists of literary prizes in France this fall, after Louis-Daniel Godin, named by the jury of the Wepler Prize – Fondation La Poste for his first novel, Lecompte est bon, and Kevin Lambert, who found himself last week in the first selection of the Goncourt and Décembre prizes for his third novel, Let our joy remain.
The second and third selections for the Femina Prize will be announced on October 3 and 24, while the prize will be awarded on November 6, the day before the Renaudot and Goncourt.
