The French-Palestinian writer Karim Kattan won the Prix Wepler-Fondation La Poste on November 9, 2026, worth 10,000 euros, for his third novel, Septentrionale, published in August by the Tunisian publisher Elyzad.
Agence France-Presse reported the verdict the same day; a day later, El País published an interview with the author. Kattan was born in Jerusalem in 1989, grew up in Bethlehem in a Palestinian Catholic family, and has lived in Paris since he was 18. The conversation centers on El Edén al alba, his previous novel, which Txalaparta published in Spanish on March 4, 2026, in a translation by Cristina Lizarbe. For readers in Mexico and for the Spanish-reading Latino community, that 336-page edition is the most direct gateway to a body of work that crosses desire, belonging, and violence, a vein the Spanish-language publishing market keeps widening.
Septentrionale recounts Joseph and Maryam's flight north through an unnamed country plunged into catastrophe, across a single night of forests and devastated towns. The novel had already won the Prix Les Inrockuptibles and is circulating in nearly ten languages, according to AFP. The jury also awarded a special mention of 3,000 euros to Dominique Sigaud for Pute vierge. In the interview, Kattan insists he did not write a manifesto and describes love and violence as forces that coexist rather than cancel each other out. The author acknowledges biblical echoes in the novel, from Genesis to the Song of Songs. Kattan sums up his material in the phrase that headlines the piece: "As a Palestinian and a gay man, political and sexual violence entered my life at the same time." El Edén al alba follows Isaac and Gabriel, two men who meet at an aunt's house in Jerusalem while a sandstorm blankets the city.
With the Wepler, Kattan now holds two awards in 2026 for Septentrionale, and the novel enters France's end-of-year literary conversation. Its translations into some ten languages continue apace, while the Spanish edition of El Edén al alba remains in print since March.
This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.
