Tram 83
by Fiston Mwanza Mujila

WINNER OF THE ETISALAT PRIZE FOR LITERATURE 2015

LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2016

In an African city in secession land tourists of all languages and nationalities. They have only one desire: to make a fortune by exploiting the mineral wealth of the country. They work during the day in mining concession and, as soon as night falls, they go out to get drunk, dance, eat and abandon themselves in Tram 83, the only night-club of the city, the den of all the outlaws.

Lucien, a professional writer, fleeing the exactions and the censorship, finds refuge in the city thanks to Requiem, a friend. Requiem lives mainly on theft and on swindle while Lucien only thinks of writing and living honestly. Around them gravitate gangsters and young girls, retired or runaway men, profit-seeking tourists and federal agents of a non-existent State.

Tram 83 plunges the reader into the atmosphere of a gold rush as cynical as, it is comic and colourfully exotic. It’s an observation of human relationships in a world that has become a global village, an African-rhapsody novel hammered by rhythms of jazz.

• Winner of the PEN Translates Award from English PEN in association with Arts Council England, 2015
• Winner of a French Voices Award from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the US, 2014
• Winner of the Grand Prix SGDL du Premier Roman (for Debut Novel), 2014
• Shortlisted for the Prix du Monde (Le Monde Literary Prize), 2014
• Shortlisted for the Prix Wepler-Fondation La Poste, 2014
• Literary Prize of the City of Graz, Austria, 2014
• Golden Medal in Literature of the VI Jeux de la Francophonie in Beirut