Jocelyn Danga has been awarded the 2026 Senghor Prize for his first novel, Né sur des pissenlits, published in March 2026 by Elyzad editions. The Senghor Prize jury, which met on September 28, 2026, awarded the prize to Danga after four rounds of voting, with 8 votes for Né sur des pissenlits against 2. The jury expressed overall satisfaction with the choice of the winner, elected by the majority of the present jurors. Two other works were distinguished on the same occasion: Bagarre by Emilia Petrakis (Éditions Les Avrils) received a special mention from the jury, while L'autre Camille by Danielle Laurin (Éditions XYZ) received public recognition. Né sur des pissenlits is a first novel that follows Muntu, who joins a Kinshasa high school where he teaches philosophy but finds the benches empty. Revolted by deplorable working conditions and a corrupt education system, he wanders through the hot district of Matongue, where he meets John, an old friend, who takes him on a night of drunkenness. Public humiliation on social networks and announced disgrace follow. As nothing seems to stop Muntu's fall, John offers to enroll him in a conference in Metz, provided he recovers the funding allocated for the trip. Muntu accepts the deal. The publisher's summary describes the novel as funny and desperate, with a creative language nourished by the raw speech of Kinshasa, where the unconditional love of a son who dreams only of offering the best to his mother is expressed. Jocelyn Danga, born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 1993, lives in Chambéry. He is the author of a dozen plays and short stories. La nuit et l'soldat won the gold medal in the Literature (short stories) competition at the 2023 Francophone Games. In July 2024, he presented a reading of his play Ne t'étonne pas si ma lettre sent le sel at the Avignon Festival. Né sur des pissenlits is his first novel. The 2026 Senghor Prize jury included Emma Callegarin, head of programming Letters (Centre Wallonie-Bruxelles); Isabelle Colin, head of the Germaine-Tillion library, curator at the Paris Library Network; Balla FOFANA, writer and journalist at Libération, president of the jury; Nicolas Forest, librarian, Landowski Library (Boulogne-Billancourt); Lise Gauvin, academic, author and literary critic (Québec); Caroline Moulin-Schwartz, moderator of literary debates; Élisabeth Lesne, editor and literary agent; Tchisseka Lobelt, former director of books and reading (territorial community of Guyana); Dominique Loubao, intercultural engineer, head of the Senghor Prize, and Carine Saint-Médar, freelance journalist Culture and Literature, Le Point. The Senghor Prize encourages "first-time writers" to use French more internationally as a writing expression tool. This prize also aims to pay tribute to the "poet-president" Senegalese, Léopold Sédar Senghor, a messenger of love for this beautiful language, agrégé of French grammar (1935) and member of the French Academy (1983-2001). The official award ceremony will take place on Thursday, October 15, 2026, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., at the Loyola Faculty Paris, 35, bis rue de Sèvres, 75006 Paris. Literary activities (readings, debates with members of the jury, poetry recitals) will punctuate this evening, followed by dedications that will take place at the bookstore's stand. Last year, the Senghor Prize honored Catherine Perreault for her book L'élu, published by Philippe Rey editions (France)/Éditions du Quartz (Québec).