Moroccan writer and painter Mahi Binebine, winner of 2020 Mediterranean Award

Moroccan writer and painter Mahi Binebine is the winner of the 2020 Mediterranean Award for his latest novel Rue du pardon (forgiveness street) published by Stock publishing house, organizers announced Monday.

Mahi Binebine was in the running for the 35th Mediterranean Award alongside Sylvain Coher with his novel Vaincre à Rome (winning in Rome), published by Actes Sud and Yasmine Khlat with her novel Egypte 51 (Egypt 51) published by Elyzad.

The Award will be presented to the author on October 3 during a large ceremony in Perpignan, organizers said.

In addition to the main prize awarded to Mahi Binebine, the foreign Mediterranean Award went to the Italian writer Giosuè Calaciura for his novel Borgo Vecchio.

Founded in 1985 by the Mediterranean Center for Literature and sponsored in particular by the city of Perpignan, the departmental Council of Pyrénées-Orientales, the City of Barcarès, and the Occitanie region, the Mediterranean prize rewards each year several works dealing with a subject related to the Mediterranean Sea.