Launched in 1999, the announcement of the best-seller list of French-speaking books (excluding paperback format) from L’Express is one of the most anticipated literary events of the year. Its 25th edition is no exception since it brings together around twenty authors, successful subscribers, award-winning or young writers, accompanied by their publishers at the Royal Monceau, a prestigious hotel in the 17th arrondissement.
For Eric Chol, editorial director: “The bestsellers lunch allows us to pay tribute to French-speaking literature and its authors. It is also an opportunity to take stock of the publishing sector and “exchange with its main actors.”
3789 annual awards
© / The Express
This year, the ranking (according to Edistat* figures) gives pride of place to novels, which dominate book sales. As usual, we find the winner of the Goncourt prize, in this case Jean-Baptiste Andrea, whose Watch over her (L’Iconoclaste) has collected nearly 480,000 copies to date (for the French region alone). A superb vintage indeed. In second position, Fred Vargas completed a formidable journey with On the slab (Flammarion) after six years of absence. Nice surprise in third position: Cédric Sapin-Defour, who no one saw coming, sold nearly 300,000 copies of his story about his “loving” relationship with his dog (Its smell after the rain, Stock). Behind him, Sarah Rivens (present with three titles) and, a little further, Maud Ankaoua, Morgane Moncomble, Nine Gorman and Marie Alhinho, Chloé Wallerand, Camille Creati, all representatives of the current romance boom. We will also note the presence of Pierre Lemaitre, regular in the ranking, in fifth place in the list with Silence and Anger (Calmann-Lévy), second volume of his tetralogy The Glorious Years.
It should also be noted the presence in seventh place of Neige Sinno, Femina prize and Goncourt prize for high school students 2023 for sad tiger (POL) as well as those of novelists, for a time stamped “feel good”, such as Virginie Grimaldi, Mélissa Da Costa, Katherine Pancol. Finally, note the good performance of the thriller authors, Franck Thilliez, Bernard Minier, Maxime Chattam, Michel Bussi, Jean-François Pasques, Martial Caroff, Guillaume Musso, Jean-Christophe Grangé, still numerous in our list.
On the other hand, the authors of the essays are more than ever in the minority. Thus, out of the 40 authors in our 2023 bestseller list, only six of them (Florent Pagny, Thomas Pesquet, Alexandra Henrion-Caude, Jessie Inchauspé, Stéphane Allix, Jimmy Mohamed) show up with works mainly relating to health or personal development.
*Edistat delivers figures every week to L’Express for the best sales in France of large format books purchased in bookstores, specialized supermarkets and the Internet.
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