The Franco-British author is the winner of the tenth edition of the Maralpin literary prize. His coming-of-age novel “Fleeing Eden” was published in 2022, by Finitude editions.
“I don’t feel very legitimate because I have only been a resident of Nice for 18 months,” begins Olivier Dorchamps. The former Londoner, who left due to Brexit, wins the Prix Livre Azur, this June 23rd, in a bustling room at the Palais des Sardes in Nice. The award is the result of a departmental public reading policy. Thus, this prize is part of this “cultural ambition” carried out “with humility and determination.” Created in 2014, it aims to promote reading through local literature around values of “sharing.”
This is why the selection includes writers originating from Alpes-Maritimes or having chosen it as a place to live, and novels set in the Maralpin territory. The patron of this edition, Joël Boqué, was himself a laureate in 2018 with his work La Fonte des glaces.
Promoting reading to create “people who will think”
“What brings us together today is reading, which uplifts us, guides us, and can change lives through the encounter with a work, with a writer,” declares Éric Ciotti, Deputy and Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Alpes-Maritimes Department. The representative of Charles Ange Ginésy emphasizes the “crucial” importance of such an event in a context where “reading is being lost” and “the educational system is collapsing.”
“I find that we are in a very utilitarian world where we train consumers, people who will produce. However, reading allows us to create people who will think, reflect,” shares the author, also emphasizing the imagination that reading necessitates.
A social tale with endearing characters, the winning formula
His novel Fleeing Eden managed to convince “a completely popular jury.” It was a desire of the Department to counter “a very Parisian cliquishness” which is often the norm in awarding major literary prizes. 117 jurors from 12 different reading committees throughout the department, from La Turbie to Saint-Martin-Vésubie passing through Nice, proceeded to vote following a debate.
Published in 2022, it was in competition with three other novels: Les Enfants endormis by Anthony Passeron at Globe editions, Le parti d’Edgar Winger by Patrice Jean, and Antipolis by Nina Leger at Gallimard editions. Fleeing Eden managed to stand out, thanks to “the life of the story,” “its tender and endearing characters.” Readers appreciated the genre of social tale/coming-of-age novel and highlighted its “effective narrative structure.”
Fleeing Eden is intended to be a luminous novel, “full of hope” that touches on themes of adolescence, love, immigration, urbanism in a cosmopolitan London with significant social inequalities. The Trellick Tower, featured on the cover, renamed Eden in the novel, is a building from the brutalist architectural movement. Very popular in the 50s-70s, the style was used in the reconstruction of post-war England, devastated by Nazi bombs. The concrete-glorifying building stifles its residents with its imposing character. Adam lives there and dreams of escaping.
“Adam, 17, lives in a London suburb in a tower called Eden, where, since the departure of his mother, he tries to protect his sister from a brutal father. One day, he saves a girl ready to throw herself under a train. Disturbed, she flees. Shaken by this encounter, Adam wishes to see her again. Helped by Pawel and Ben, he is ready to do anything to find her.”
