Charif Majdalani`s "The Names of Kings" wins Armenian Goncourt Awards

ArmInfo. "The Names of Kings" (Le nom des rois) by the enowned Lebanese French-language writer, essayist, and educator, Charif Majdalani, won the Armenian Goncourt Awards, held in Yerevan on April 2. This is the second year the event has been held in Armenia as part of Francophonie Days.

This year, a jury of 36 students from the French Department at the  French University of Armenia, Yerevan State University, and Bryusov  State University selected their second winner from eight books chosen  by the Goncourt Academy. After lengthy discussions, the second round  of voting awarded victory to Charif Majdalani's "The Names of Kings"  (Le nom des rois).  Armenia's Deputy Minister of Education, Science,  Culture, and Sports, Artur Martirosyan, in his address to those  present, praised the country for hosting such events. He called it a  wonderful manifestation of such a warm attitude toward Armenia and  its youth, an expression of such optimism regarding Armenian culture  and poetry.

In turn, French Ambassador to Armenia Olivier Decottignies noted that  this is the second year the Goncourt selection has been held in  Armenia. "While a year ago this was a novelty, today it has become an  established tradition. When you decide to learn a language, you are  making a decision to discover the culture of that country, to become  part of it, to discover all its facets," the diplomat remarked.

The French Ambassador noted that the Armenian jury's choice differs  from the French one. "You made a choice that differs from that of the  French Goncourt, demonstrating your independence. With your choice,  you once again demonstrated that French, France, and the Francophonie  belong not only to France, but to the entire world. You chose the  works of a Lebanese writer who writes in French. Lebanon is a country  with a significant number of French speakers. Lebanon is a country  that is currently facing certain problems. Lebanon is a country that  is very close to both the French and the Armenians," the diplomat  concluded.

In turn, Artak Aleksanyan, director of the Nyumeg publishing house,  said that the winning work will be translated into Armenian. "On  October 10, we invite everyone to the Nyumeg Francofest, where the  Armenian translation of 'The Names of Kings' will be presented,"  Aleksanyan said.