The Quebec writer Kevin Lambert did not expect to leave Paris with the Medici Prize in his suitcase.
Someone wrote to me, “Try to be there this afternoon.” Then someone wrote to me saying I had it, and my first response was, “That can’t be right.” “And that’s what the person on the jury told me “It made me laugh a lot,” said Kevin Lambert.
When contacted in Paris, he explained that he was returning from the stationery store to buy stationery and to thank the person who had lent him an apartment in Paris.
“We were going on vacation with my boyfriend tomorrow,” he added, emphasizing that he had other plans for the day. At 1:10 p.m. I had to be on the France Inter radio to do a recorded interview and that was when the award was announced. At the time of the reveal we had something else planned.
He tried to answer all the calls at once and said he was very happy with this win: It’s crazy. It’s a big surprise, but really good news.
In addition to the novel prize awarded to Kevin Lambert, Laure Murat’s family novel Proust was also honored in the essay category.
This year’s foreign novel prize goes to “Impossibles Adieux” by South Korean Han Kang, tied with “Misericordia” by Lídia Jorge. He is still a queer Medici, emphasized Kevin Lambert, because Laure Murat’s essay is also about homosexuality, gender identity… nobility and Proust.
Kevin Lambert’s joy is increased tenfold by the fact that the Medici Prize has already been awarded to a very important person in his eyes: it is a prize that has already awarded Marie-Claire Blais, who for me is a really important author, explained Kevin Lambert . It is the focus of my novel. I think she’s in the taxi with me right now.
With information from Catherine Richer, culture columnist for the show Le 15-18.