TRAM 83 is the debut novel of Fiston Mwanza Mujila, a Congolese writer based in Graz (Austria) represented by the Pontas Agency since his first manuscript was a draft and we strongly believed in his literary potential. First published by Éditions Métailié in France during the réntrée of 2014, a long list of prizes nominations and translations confirm that Fiston Mwanza Mujila is no ordinary writer, and TRAM 83 no ordinary novel. And that Fiston is also a name to have if one is interested in the most vibrant upcoming new literary voices from the African continent.
After making it to the front page of Le Monde du Livres, TRAM 83 has become a literary sensation and has drawn comparisons to Fitzgerald, Céline, García Márquez, Hunter S. Thompson and even a painting by Hyeronimous Bosch or a piece by Coltrane.
The rights have also been acquired by many and very prestigious publishing houses all over the world. Métailié is the original publisher in French; Zsolnay and Deuticke (Hanser) has acquired German rights; De Bezige Bij has already published it in Dutch; Nottetempo in Italian; Edicions del Periscopi in Catalan; and Rámus will publish it in Swedish. In English, Deep Vellum has published the novel in North America; Scribe Publications in ANZ & South Asia and Jacaranda Books in the UK & Ireland.
For the American edition, Fiston Mwanza Mujila embarked himself on a very ambitious tour around the United States (involving New York, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas...) with his translator into English Roland Glasser, and his enthusiastic editor Will Evans at Deep Vellum. You can see all the photos here.
Fiston Mwanza Mujila has also visited Amsterdam, where he spoke with Lieve Joris. Just after, he visited Barcelona to promote the Catalan edition of TRAM 83 published by Edicions del Periscopi, and also was a great opportunity to visit the Pontas Agency offices and meet the whole team!
Last but not least, here's an interview for the News on TV3, the main Catalan television, which aired on December 15th, 2015.
TRAM 83 has also been nominated and won many prizes:
Shortlisted for the Etisalat Prize for Literature 2015 (the first ever pan-African prize celebrating first time writers of published fiction books)
Shortlisted among the 9 finalists of the Prix du Monde (Le Monde des Livres), 2014, out of 607 candidates.
Shortlisted of the Prix Wepler-Fondation La Poste, 2014, created by the prestigious bookshop Librairie des Abbesses
Best French Debut finalist of 2014 according to LIRE
Literary Prize of the City of Graz, 2014
Golden Medal in Literature of the VI Jeux de la Francophonie in Beyrouth
Grand Prix du Premier Roman de la Société des gens de lettres (SGDL)
Shortlisted for the French Voices Award