From Gonaïves to France’s literary spotlight: Thélyson Orélien earns major prize nomination
A debut novel by a Haitian-born writer has been named a finalist for one of France’s most closely watched literary prizes, the latest recognition for a book that has become one of the standout literary successes of the year on both sides of the Atlantic.
Thélyson Orélien’s novel “C’était ça ou mourir” (“It Was That or Death”) is among 30 books selected for the 2026 Prix du Roman Fnac, chosen from more than 250 submissions for the prize’s 25th edition. The winner, to be picked by a jury of 400 booksellers and 400 readers from the French retail chain, will be announced Sept. 21.
The nomination follows another honor for Orélien: on July 30, the novel won the 2026 Prix Méduse, a prize now in its fifth year that is designed to open France’s fall literary season by spotlighting standout debuts. The award carries a 5,000-euro prize. The novel had already drawn recognition at the Prix Strasbourg 2026, and it is also among the selections for Monaco’s Prix Littéraire Prince Pierre and its Bourse de la Découverte, with winners to be revealed in October at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.
A Fictional Journey Rooted in Real Testimony
Born in Gonaïves in 1988, Orélien moved to Quebec in 2010 after the earthquake that devastated Haiti, an experience that has since shaped much of his writing on memory, exile and migration. “C’était ça ou mourir” is his first novel.
The book follows Jonas Dorléon, a fictional history and geography teacher in Carrefour-Feuilles, a Port-au-Prince neighborhood overtaken by gang violence. When his home is burned and his life threatened, Dorléon flees with almost nothing, a diploma, a notebook of poems, and a photograph of his late mother, on a journey that takes him through the Dominican Republic, Brazil and Mexico as he tries to reach the United States and, eventually, Canada. Along the way, he confronts U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and an asylum system built around digital tools like CBP One.
Although the story is fictional and not autobiographical, Orélien has said he drew on testimony gathered directly from migrants he met in Canada, Mexico and the United States, where he also assisted asylum seekers.
The Prix du Roman Fnac winner will be announced Sept. 21. Whatever the outcome, Orélien’s debut has already cemented itself as one of the defining literary stories of France’s 2026 “rentrée littéraire,” the fall publishing season.
