Goncourt, Femina, Académie française… this is, for the moment, the winning trio of the major literary prizes of the fall which are about to end (with the Interallié, awarded on November 22 and the Goncourt des lycéens awarded the 23). Certainly, Jean-Baptiste Andrea (Watch over hereditions of L’Iconoclaste) and Neige Sinno (sad tiger, editions POL) have been present in our fiction list for quite some time now. But without seeming to be a soothsayer, we can predict a long life for them in the best sellers. As for the winner of the Grand Prix de l’Académie française, Dominique Barbéris (A way of lovingGallimard), she finally landed in the Top 20.
On the other hand, we will point out the absences of the winners of the Renaudot prize, Ann Scott (The InsolentCalmann-Lévy) and the Médicis Prize (Kevin Lambert, May our joy remainLe Nouvel Attila) as well as those of the foreign prize-winners (Louise Erdrich, Femina prize for SentenceAlbin Michel, Lidia Jorge and Han Kang, Medici prize ex aequo for MisericordiaMetallic, and for Impossible goodbyes, Grasset). It’s not always easy to find a place in the sun today, especially if you are the subject of a translation. Finally, let us note the 20th and 11th ranks of Gaspard Koenig, recipient of the Jean Giono prize for Humus (editions of L’Observatoire) and Cédric Sapin-Defour, surprise bestseller of the summer, who has just received the Trente millions d’amis literary prize for Its smell after the rain (Stock).
A look at the tests now. Here again the price effect is not negligible. Thus the winner of the Médicis essay, Laure Murat (Proust, family novel, Robert Laffont) holds on to her 15th place, while Hugo Micheron, Femina prize with Anger and forgetting, Gallimard), joins the list. He only had gold records, yet he appeared in our Top 20 with his Memoirs, And me and me and me, awaited for ages by its publisher Le Cherche Midi. Patience rewarded. You recognized him, of course, it is indeed Jacques Dutronc, 80 years old and still young at heart.