Sylvie Kandé Awarded the 2026 French Press Prize

Sylvie Kandé has been named the 2026 French Press laureate. As part of this distinction, she will participate in the Jules Verne Creative Writing Residency in the Midwest, organized with the support of Villa Albertine Chicago and five partner institutions: The Ohio State University, Washington University in St. Louis, Indiana University, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Kansas. 

The 2026 selection jury was composed of Eric Bourland (Villa Albertine Chicago), Lionel Cuillé (Washington University in St. Louis), Benjamin Hoffmann (The Ohio State University), Van Kelly (University of Kansas), Dan Maroun and Aurore Mroz (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), and Oana Panaïté (Indiana University).  

The author of three poetry collections published by Gallimard, including La quête infinie de l’autre rive, winner of the Lucienne Gracia-Vincent Prize, and Gestuaire, winner of the Louise Labé Prize, Sylvie Kandé explores themes of memory, history, displacement, and otherness in a body of work that crosses literary genres. 

During her residency, she will develop a meta-novel exploring representations of slavery and abolitionism in the United States, bringing Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin into dialogue with Josiah Henson’s autobiographical account. Her project will take her through the landscapes and historical archives of the Midwest. 

The jury has also awarded a special mention to Laurence Plazenet, who will also be invited to participate in the Jules Verne Creative Writing Residency. A professor of seventeenth-century French literature at Université Clermont Auvergne, specializing in fiction, Port-Royal, and literary Augustinianism, she is also the author of several novels, including L’amour seul, translated into seventeen languages, La Blessure et la soif, and Disproportion de l’homme. 

During her residency, she will continue working on Styx ou la séparation du monde, a novel set between Paris and the United States that explores the relationship between Jorge and his sister Alma, memory, and loss. 

Congratulations to Sylvie Kandé and Laurence Plazenet!