World Prize Amid Imprisonment">
PARIS – May 21,2024 –
The World Prize Cino del Duca has been awarded to Boualem Sansal,an imprisoned Algerian writer,acknowledging his meaningful contributions to literature. Awarded on may 21, 2024, the french literary prize recognizes Sansal’s unwavering commitment to freedom of speech. The prize highlights the writer’s courageous work despite his imprisonment, with details about his arrest and the upcoming appeal trial in the sections below. This prestigious recognition solidifies Sansal’s place in the literary world.
Boualem sansal Awarded World Prize Cino del Duca Amidst imprisonment
In a powerful symbolic gesture, Boualem Sansal, the Algerian writer currently imprisoned, has been honored with the World Prize Cino del Duca. The French literary award, presented Wednesday, May 21, 2025, recognizes the strength of a writer who continues to make a free word heard.
Recognition for a Lifetime of Work
Sansal, recognized for his entire body of work, joins a distinguished list of laureates including Andreï Sakharov, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Jorge Luis Borges, and Milan Kundera. Kamel Daoud, the 2024 Goncourt Prize winner, also received this prestigious award in 2019.
A Prize for “Free and Humanist” voices
The Simone and Cino del duca Foundation, a Franco-Italian press publisher, endows the prize with 200,000 euros. The jury stated in a press release that the prize pays homage to the strength of a writer who, beyond borders and censorships, continues to make a free, deeply humanist and resolutely necessary speech.
Established in 1969, the prize aims to crown the career of a French or foreign author whose work constitutes, in scientific or literary form, a message of modern humanism.
Arrest and Detention Details
Boualem Sansal, an 80-year-old Franco-Algerian writer, has been detained since his arrest at Algiers airport in mid-November 2024. On March 27, 2025, he was sentenced to five years in prison. The charges stem from statements made in October 2024 to the French far-right media outlet Boundaries, where he asserted that Algeria had inherited territories belonging to Morocco during French colonization.
His publisher, Gallimard, has provided him with a French lawyer; however, the lawyer has been unable to obtain a visa to ensure his defense. His appeal trial is scheduled for June 24, 2025.
A Diplomatic Point of Contention
The writer’s case has become a focal point in diplomatic tensions between Algeria and France. Algiers maintains that its justice system is proceeding normally, while Paris has called for a gesture of humanity
towards Sansal, who is reportedly battling cancer.
The jury described Sansal as a major novelist of the French -speaking scene
who has established itself over the years as an essential voice in contemporary literature.
They added, With rare courage and a feather of great elegance, his work reflects his unwavering commitment to our common language and the values it carries. By this choice, the jury also recalls its attachment to freedom of creation and publication, to the protection of cultural life and intellectual debate.
The Jury and Award Ceremony
The jury comprises 14 members, 12 of whom are from the five academies that make up the Institut de France. The president of the jury is Amin Maalouf, the Franco-Lebanese writer and perpetual secretary of the French Academy.
The Simone and Cino del Duca Foundation stated that the prize is to be awarded under the dome of the institut de France during the solemn session for the presentation of the Institute’s foundations of the foundations, June 18, 2025.
The specifics of the award presentation remain to be resolute.
