2nd edition of the Inalco multilingual short story competition: extension!

"Endangered languages": news submission extended to November 15, 2021!

Your news submission can be made online until November 15, 2021. Submission terms and conditions are specifiedICI.

Enter the competition alone for a classic short story. But don't forget the chance to enter the new PERL Prize, with the creation of a digital literary work! Individually or collectively, play on the multimodality offered by technological supports to write between languages by producing a digital work.

This second edition follows on from the Inalco competition for the plurilingual short story carried out by the Licence + program and supported by the Organisation internationale de la francophonie in 2020 through the Languages in Dialogue initiative. The latter aims to promote the different varieties of French and multilingualism in the French-speaking world.

With the support of the association DULALA and Outranspo (Ouvroir de translation potencial)

This international competition is open to all French-speaking students (aged 17 to 35) enrolled in a French-speaking university.

Because of its openness to the world (over a hundred languages are taught here, including many so-called "rare" and minority languages), no venue lends itself better than Inalco to hosting such a competition, even more so with the partnership of the OIF, promoter of a multilingual Francophonie. This is all the more true given that the French language in the Francophonie takes many different forms, all too often invisibilized or downplayed. So it's also this internal plurilingualism of languages, whose homogeneous character is only factitious, that our competition wants to promote, particularly for French, whose singularity masks the geolinguistic diversity of regional and national variants.
It is this rustling of languages in the French-speaking world that this competition would like to make heard, through your writings!"
Isabelle Cros, president of the jury

The jury

The jury, made up of Inalco members of various profiles (administrative staff, researchers, students, teachers...) and external members, is responsible for evaluating the short stories. The Grand Jury deciding on the three best short stories will comprise, in addition to Inalco representatives, the writers sponsoring the competition; Le Monde journalist Nabil Wakim, author of L'arabe pour tous : pourquoi ma langue est taboue en France (Le Seuil, Paris) and the publisher (Éditions Tangentielles).

This 2021 edition is sponsored by two French-speaking writers:

The novelist Carole Martinez whose publications include Du domaine des murmures, awarded the Goncourt des lycéens in 2011. She has subsequently written another novel and scenarios for comic strips. Her latest novel, published in 2020, is Les roses fauves (Gallimard).

Jean-Luc Raharimana is a Malagasy novelist, essayist and poet. He is also the author of plays, musical tales and a stage director. A number of his works have won awards, including Rêves sous le linceul, which received the Grand Prix Littéraire de Madagascar (ADELF) in 1998.

Rules and conditions of participation

Theme and writing constraints

The theme of the 2021 edition: "Languages in danger"

The text (short story of 8,000 to 15,000 characters +/- 20%) must be written in French, but must also include, even occasionally, another language or another variety of French, whether hexagonal or not (Picard, Guadeloupean or Mauritian Creole, joual...).

Fabricated and invented languages are admitted.

Short stories must be written mainly in French and readable for a French-speaking reader, who will most likely not master the other language(s) used.

Only original, unpublished works are accepted.

Written collaborative works are not admitted, except for the PERL Digital Work Award.

Only one text per student.e is allowed.

Submission of entries

Submission of the short story: applicants must submit their short story on the official website by November 15, 11:59 pm.
Read the contest rules here.

Get inspired

To boost your creativity, you can watch the readings given of the winning texts in 2020 by actress Cécile Dominjon and the authors on the Maison de la Poésie youtube channel.

You can also read the short stories of the four winners, as well as those of the sponsors, free of charge on the Éditions Tangentielles website.

The prizes

Four prizes will be awarded:
● the 1st prize, book(s) and LIRE ou CULTURE check in the amount of : 500 €
● the 2nd prize, book(s) and LIRE or CULTURE check in the amount of : 200 €
● 3rd prize, book(s) and LIRE or CULTURE check in the amount of : 100 €
● Prix Perl special digital work: book(s) and LIRE or CULTURE check in the amount of: 500

The best short stories will be published and distributed by Éditions Tangentielles.

The prize-giving ceremony in Paris (Inalco) will take place in spring 2022.

For further information on the competition: concoursnouvelleplurilingue@gmail.com.