The Interallié 2022 prize was awarded this Wednesday, November 9 to the French writer and journalist Philibert Humm. “Romance river” offers an immersive reading recounting the journey of three young people who decided to go down the Seine in a canoe, from Paris to the sea.
Philibert Humm, who earns his living as a reporter and in the culture department of Paris-Match, has just celebrated his 31st birthday at the end of October and his first prize for his first novel all by himself. Published by Éditions des Equateurs, his zany adventure of three young people visibly seduced the eight (exclusively male) members of the jury.
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The Interallié prize, founded in 1930 by around thirty journalists and which counts very great authors such as André Malraux, Michel Houellebecq, Florian Zeller or Philippe Djian among its laureates, rewards a novel in French each year.
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On 288 pages, Philibert Humm details in romantic form his experience in 2018 with two friends. Without GPS or other modern technology, they entrusted themselves to a second-hand canoe and the moods of the river to move forward in their lives. The jury thus has the audacity to transform an outdoor journey into an indoor adventure where we meet firefighters, policemen or tavern keepers in an often funny and whimsical spirit.
By its subject, its action and its narrative, Roman river aims to be both anachronistic and avant-garde while celebrating eternal values such as unfailing friendship. A logical continuation of his previous work, a road movie co-written with his childhood and scouting friend, Pierre Adrian: The tour of France by two children of today.
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