The writer Victor-Lévy Beaulieu will not receive the Prix de la langue française, a prestigious French literary award. His state of health does not allow him to pick up his reward in person, an essential condition to obtain this prize.
The writer from Trois-Pistoles loses the scholarship of 10,000 euros ($13,900) associated with the prize.
To obtain the prize, awarded by the French and Goncourt Academies, the writer had to go to the Book Fair in Brive, France, which his state of health did not allow him to do. He has been diminished for years by a syndrome that nails him to a wheelchair.
“I tried to explain to them, but they didn’t seem to understand,” the writer told the Quebec newspaper. It’s annoying. It’s a bit of a stupid decision. »
Victor-Lévy Beaulieu would have been the first Quebec winner of this prize, which rewards the quality of the use of the French language. It was given to Natacha Appanah, from Mauritius.