2023-12-13 09:51:16
With her sailor top and jeans, Salma El Moumni goes unnoticed in the crowd of students gathered in one of the libraries on the Lille 3 campus, where some of the 1,500 jurors who awarded her the France Culture Student Novel Prize are gathered – There were 200 of them voting on this Lille campus. Barely older than them, the Franco-Moroccan author came to talk about her first novel, Farewell Tangier (ed. Grasset), which combines with a striking style the themes of uprooting, violence against women, post-colonialism and racism.
« I’m as stressed as you “, she says in the preamble, kindly inviting the most shy to come and join her at the end of the meeting for a discussion “ private “. Students also wrote questions for him on small pieces of paper, to draw from a cup. Grégoire Ramsès Parent, 21, does not have this apprehension. This is the second year that this modern literature student has participated in the jury for the France Culture Student Novel Prize and he is used to addressing, via video, his thousands of subscribers on Tiktok and on Instagram (under the pseudonym Ramses243)
“The opportunity to see living authors”
Installed in the front row, his copy ofFarewell Tangier copiously annotated by hand, he is quick to question the author: “ I like to know how writers build their characters, what their references are… “. Even if he already knows that he will vote for another title in the running, Shortest path by Antoine Wauters, in which he “ recognized », see an author « in truth » gives him an irreplaceable emotion. His favorite moment: the dedication, which allows for a more personal exchange.
« Students do not often have the opportunity to see living writers, we mainly study the dead », notes with mischief Stéphane Chaudier, professor of literature, who hosts this annual meeting, “ a breath of fresh air, likely to trigger, encourage or confirm desires to write “. For more than an hour, in front of an attentive audience, he invited Salma El Moumni to shed light on his narrative and stylistic choices, which he analyzed beforehand in class to create “ a curiosity and an expectation ».
To exchange their impressions on the five books in competition, the jurors can also connect on a Discord platform, “ a place for passionate and exciting debates », rejoices Marine Claude, coordinator of the prize and the thirty meetings, physical and virtual, organized in one month across France. For Salma El Moumni, this direct contact with young people allows us to “ ward off isolation and nourish common reflection on important themes such as the view of women’s bodies ».
The director of France Culture Émelie de Jong is well aware that this type of event helps to increase the station’s notoriety, even if digital technology remains, according to her, the best way to reach young adults. There are currently 300,000 people aged 13 to 34 out of 1.8 million daily listeners, a figure up 23% over the last five seasons, while the entire radio medium has seen a drop of 22% on average over this age group.
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