The jury, chaired by author and playwright Werewere Liking-Gnépo, praised the novel for its examination of Côte d’Ivoire’s latest political turbulence. They described encountering within the work “this screaming mild that permeates the reader’s thoughts” and famous how Tadjo constructs a story about an Africa “shifting ahead like a drunken dancer always looking for their step.”
A particular point out was given to Cameroonian journalist and author, Christian Eboulé, for Le Testomony de Charles (Afrédit, 2025).
In her acceptance remarks, Tadjo defined that she wrote the novel to middle the human price of political crises, specializing in two college students, Flora and Yasmina, who characterize a technology “condemned to pay the value for the errors of their elders.” The e book additionally attracts connections with South Africa, exploring what African nations can study from each other. Tadjo described her work as “at the beginning a love story, a celebration of the great thing about artwork, and a tribute to resilience.”
Born in Paris, Tadjo grew up in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire the place she attended native colleges. She earned a B.A. in English from the College of Abidjan and a doctorate from the Sorbonne, Paris IV, in African American Literature and Civilisation. In 1983, she went to Howard College in Washington, D.C. on a Fulbright analysis scholarship.
She acquired the Literary Prize of L’Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Method in 1983 and the UNICEF Prize in 1993 for Mamy Wata and the Monster, which was additionally chosen as one in every of Africa’s 100 Greatest Books of the twentieth Century, one in every of solely 4 kids’s books chosen.
Up to now few years, Tadjo has facilitated workshops in writing and illustrating kids’s books in Mali, the Benin Republic, Chad, Haiti, Mauritius, French Guiana, Burundi, Rwanda and South Africa. She has additionally been a member of judging panels for a number of worldwide literary prizes.
The Prix Ivoire for Francophone African Literature, established in 2008 by Akwaba Tradition, celebrates works written in French by African writers or publishers from the continent and diaspora. Tadjo’s win carries a money award of two million CFA Francs (roughly 3,000 euros) a trophy, and an invite to the Geneva Guide Truthful. Earlier recipients embrace Azza Filali (2024), Jennifer Richard (2023), and Hemley Boum (2013).
Tadjo’s recognition underscores the continued vitality of francophone African literature and its engagement with the continent’s political and social realities.
