The Academy of Floral Games, the oldest learned society in Europe which has rewarded poets since the 14th century, presented its prizes on Wednesday in Toulouse, announcing that on the occasion of its 700th anniversary, it will award a new one in 2024 to slam poetry. “Slam and poetry are inseparable (…) it made it possible to democratize and dust off the image that young people had of poetry”, to “give them a word that they did not have”, declared to AFP Marc Alexandre Oho Bambe, poet and slammer, who acted as master of ceremonies for the Flower Festival of the academy, celebrated each May.
Created in 1323 by seven troubadours from Toulouse and registered last year as a French intangible cultural heritage, the institution aims to maintain the lyricism of courtly love, as well as to promote poetry in French and Occitan. “His name comes from the first distinction that was awarded: the golden violet”, added Philippe Dazet-Brunet, perpetual secretary of the academy, who is “betting that among these young people, there will be the greatest poets that we will read in thirty or forty years”.
Among the winners on Wednesday, Capucine Amalvy, musician, author and composer, 27 years old and from Castres (Tarn), received the Silver Rose prize which rewards poetic song, for her Nocturnal chimeras. “The French language is in constant movement and we must maintain this fluidity, not crystallize it (…) It is important to include young people in this process and to deconstruct this academic relationship (…) Poetry, it’s not dusty,” she said.
The prize for young poets went to Camille Turbé, originally from La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime), for his poem Empreintes. This 17-year-old high school student “finds it beautiful to perpetuate the tradition of poetry”. “No matter the form, she felt, it’s good that it diversifies (…) that it continues to live.”
