Basma Omrani wins Zoubeida Béchir Prize for French-language literature

The 31st Zoubeida Béchir Literary Prizes were held on August 12 at the Centre de recherche, de documentation et d’information sur la femme (Credif) in Tunisia. The ceremony, held near Tunisia's National Women's Day, honored female writers and researchers to celebrate their intellectual contributions.

Tunisian novelist Basma Omrani won the 2026 Literary Creation Prize in the French language for her debut novel, ‘Sursis à volonté’. Omrani, a professor of French and doctor of literature, described her work as an attempt to express ‘the absurd, the unjust, and the repressed’ to better reflect reality.

The event was attended by Minister of Family, Women, Childhood, and the Elderly, Asma Jebri, and Credif Director Sonia Ben Jemia. During the ceremony, an artificial intelligence video was used to feature the late poet Zoubeida Béchir, a pioneer of modern female poetry in Tunisia. Additionally, a Braille version of Béchir’s posthumous collection, ‘L’Oiseau Phénix’, was announced in collaboration with the Ibsar association to increase accessibility for the visually impaired.