The 2025 Festival International de Littérature de Dakar (Filid) concluded in Senegal’s capital on Saturday, May 24, with Oumar El Foutiyou Ba, Khady Fall Faye Diagne, Véronique Tadjo as this year’s literary prize winners.

Now in its fourth edition, the Dakar International Literary Festival ran from May 21 to 24, gathering writers, literary critics, publishers, cultural figures, students, and journalists from across Senegal and West Africa. Professor of philosophy and educational advisor Alpha Amadou Sy, author of Africanisme et theorie du projet social, gave the opening lecture.

Each year, Filid highlights literary excellence through its awards: Prix Abdoulaye Racine Senghor du roman sénégalais, Prix International de Littérature Cheikh Hamidou Kane, and Prix International de Poésie Annette Mbaye d’Erneville. Previous recipients include Blaise Ndala (2022), Khalil Diallo, Tanella Boni, and Mbarek Ould Beyrouk (2023), as well as Sami Tchak and Mamadou Samb (2024).

The theme of the 2025 festival was “The Development of Culture: The Place of the Book”, featuring panels and events that explored the evolving role of literature and publishing in Senegalese society.

The winners were officially announced during the festival’s closing ceremony, held at the French Institute of Dakar. Read more about the prize winners, as reported by Writing Africa, below!:

Abdoulaye Racine Senghor Prize for Senegalese Novels

During a jubilant victory parade in Senegal, the national football team—the Lions—fall victim to a daring heist when their Queen Cup trophy is secretly swapped with a fake, all while the world watches live. As chaos unfolds across Dakar, a notorious international trafficker is found dead, a mysterious escape takes place in Toubab Dialao, and the city’s criminal underworld begins to stir.

James Murua of Writing Africa comments, “Through this story rooted in contemporary realities, the author questions dreams of glory, the excesses of sports business and the fault lines of a society in search of reference points. A powerful novel, both breathtaking and deeply critical.”

Annette Mbaye D’Erneville Poetry Prize

This collection is a lyrical and evocative ode to Saint-Louis of Senegal. Drawing on the author’s experience of exile, the book captures the nostalgic beauty of childhood and the rich cultural tapestry of her birthplace—a city shaped by biological, cultural, and spiritual crossbreeding. Echoing the tones of Senghor and Césaire, it is both a personal meditation and a celebration of Saint-Louis as a crossroads of identities and memories.

From Murua: “A work imbued with melancholy and musicality, which celebrates the city of Ziguinchor while evoking inner exile. A vibrant homage to Casamance, carried by a singular and assertive voice.”

Cheikh Hamidou Kane International Prize for the Novel

Set against the backdrop of a deepening political crisis in Ivory Coast, this novel follows two students, Flora and Yasmina, whose lives are upended by national turmoil. As Yasmina is forced to return to her village, Flora flees to Johannesburg to rebuild her future, and the two friends embark on separate, life-altering paths shaped by displacement, resilience, and the search for stability.

Murua notes, “The work, of rare power, testifies to the author’s ability to express the intimate while carrying a universal message. This prize pays tribute to a major figure in contemporary African literature, and underlines the pan-African roots of FILID.”

Veronique Tadjo shares a heartful dedication upon receiving the prize:

I dedicate this Prize to my late husband who has been and remains a source of inspiration. A great thank you to all the members of the jury for the 2025 Cheick Hamidou Kane Prize. A tribute to a great writer, and a dignified man who gave us powerful works and a classic of African/World literature, “The Ambiguous Adventure”. This story helped me reflect on the Africa of yesterday and today in all its complexity. In awarding me this prize after the Hamadou Kourouma one, it is as if another benevolent spirit were leaning over me, telling me to keep going. To encourage me to write more, better, again and again. Because to write is to immerse oneself amongst others. To listen. To share. To face oneself. Literature is my starting point. My way out. My raft on the ocean. My comfort and my labour. The belief in tomorrow. The belief in that little bit of hope, something shining in the night. My gratitude to Mémoire d’encrier in Canada and to Vallesse Editions in Côte d’Ivoire.

Congratulations to the three winners!