Karim Kattan wins the Prix Wepler for Septentrionale
The Paris prize goes to the Elyzad novel, and the jury’s special mention goes to Dominique Sigaud.
On 9 November, Fondation La Poste announced that Karim Kattan had won the 2026 Prix Wepler for Septentrionale, published by Elyzad. The award, organised in Paris, France, with the Librairie des Abbesses and the Wepler brasserie, also makes a special jury commendation. This year it went to Dominique Sigaud for Pute vierge, published by Inculte.
In Septentrionale, Joseph and Maryam travel north as the country around them breaks apart. Everything unfolds in a single night. The road does more than put distance between them and danger: encounters along the way force them to face what each is carrying. In that tension, the novel sets the urgency of escape alongside the freedom of myth.