The Most Secret Memory of Men
2025 Longlist

The Most Secret Memory of Men

Translated from the French
artwork-image

ABOUT
THE BOOK

Paris, 2018. Diégane Latyr Faye, a young Senegalese writer, discovers a legendary book titled The Maze of Inhumanity. It has an immediate hold over him. No one knows what happened to the author, T.C. Elimane, who was accused of plagiarism, his reputation destroyed by the critics. Obsessed with discovering the truth about Elimane’s disappearance, Faye weaves past and present, countries and continents, following the author’s labyrinthine trail from Senegal to Argentina and France and confronting the great tragedies of history.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Mohamed
Mbougar Sarr

Mohamed Mbougar Sarr was born in Dakar, Senegal, in 1990. He studied literature and philosophy at L’École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris. Brotherhood, his first novel, won the Grand Prix du Roman Métis, the Prix Ahmadou-Kourouma, and the French Voices Grand Prize. The president of Senegal named him a Chevalier of the National Order of Merit. In 2021, he won the Prix Goncourt for The Most Secret Memory of Men, becoming the first author from sub-Saharan Africa to win the award and one of the youngest at only thirty-one years old.

Mohamed Mbougar Sarr was born in Dakar, Senegal, in 1990. He studied literature and philosophy at L’École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris. Brotherhood, his first novel, won the Grand Prix du Roman Métis, the Prix Ahmadou-Kourouma, and the French Voices Grand Prize. The president of Senegal named him a Chevalier of the National Order of Merit. In 2021, he won the Prix Goncourt for The Most Secret Memory of Men, becoming the first author from sub-Saharan Africa to win the award and one of the youngest at only thirty-one years old.

ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Lara
Vergnaud

Lara Vergnaud is a translator of prose, creative nonfiction, and scholarly works from the French. She is the recipient of two PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants and a French Voices Grand Prize, and has been nominated for the National Translation Award. Her recent translations include The Most Secret Memory of Men by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr (Other Press, 2023) and Demoiselles of Numidia by Mohamed Leftah (Other Press, 2023). She lives in France.

Lara Vergnaud is a translator of prose, creative nonfiction, and scholarly works from the French. She is the recipient of two PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants and a French Voices Grand Prize, and has been nominated for the National Translation Award. Her recent translations include The Most Secret Memory of Men by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr (Other Press, 2023) and Demoiselles of Numidia by Mohamed Leftah (Other Press, 2023). She lives in France.

NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS

Very good book which won the Prix Goncourt

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Date published
26/09/2023
Country
Senegal
Original Language
French
Publisher
Harvill Secker (UK)
Translator
Lara Vergnaud
Translation
Translated from the French
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