The Mauritian writer Nathacha Appanah was awarded the 2025 Fémina Prize for her new novel, La nuit au coeur (The night in the heart), which AdN will publish in September 2026.
The work interweaves story, autobiography, biography and documentary research. With prose that was described as “sober and luminous.” Appanah addresses violence against women and marital femicides, “one of the most urgent issues of our time,” the Spanish publisher reported in a statement.
Born in the city of Mahébourg, in 1973, Nathacha Appanah is an author and journalist with a solid career that has made her one of the most respected figures in French-speaking literature. She is also a contributor to media outlets such as The Mauritian, France Culture o Geo Magazine; He has lived in France since 1998.
The Fémina award is awarded by a jury made up of women. It appeared for the first time in 1904 in contrast to the prestigious Goncourt award, which at that time privileged male writers.
A work about machismo
The night in the heart It is made up of three stories united by a drive to survive: that of the author, marked by an abusive relationship during her youth; that of her cousin Emma, murdered by her husband in her native Mauritius, and that of Chainez Daoud, a young French victim of femicide in 2021.
The first recounts the atrocious case of Chahinez Daoud, a mother of three young children, who was burned alive by her ex-husband near the city of Bordeaux in 2021.
This case caused great outrage and revived the debate about the attention that the police and justice provide to women victims of domestic violence.
“It’s a book that has taken me a long time to write. It’s about understanding darkness and the dynamics of violence,” the author said.
Her cousin Emma, also a mother of three, was run over by her husband in 2000. And the third story is that of the author herself, who fled the violent and paranoid partner with whom she lived until she was 25 on that same island.
In addition to Nathacha Appanah, the Fémina jury also presented the award for foreign novels to the Irish writer John Boyne for The elements, work that narrates the fate of four victims of sexual violence during their youth in the Gaelic country.
With information from Europa Press and AFP