The Goncourt Prize

The Goncourt Prize rewards Kamel DAOUD.

Once again, the winner of the Goncourt will be present at the Brive Book Fair from November 8 to 10, 2024 as well as the other finalists such as Gaël Faye (Winner of the Renaudot Prize) and Sandrine Colette.

The most prestigious prize, the Goncourt

The Goncourt Prize is the best-known and oldest literature prize in France. It is awarded each year at the beginning of November by the Académie Goncourt after two pre-selections among the books edited and published during the year. This prize was, in fact, created to reward each year “ the best work of imagination in prose, published in the year ". It is attributed almost exclusively to a novel.

View of the hand of a lady leafing through a book

Le Goncourt 2024

The proclamation of the Prix Goncourt was made on November 4 at Drouant. The 2024 Laureate is the writer Kamel DAOUD for his work Houris (at Gallimard). Her novel evokes the Algerian civil war that pitted Islamist groups against the Algerian army from 1992 to 2002, and left between 60 and 000 dead and thousands missing. Twenty years after the end of the fighting, the story unfolds in two parts today – from shadow to light, from silence to confrontation. First, the dark and lyrical monologue of Aube, 200, a scar in the shape of a smile around her neck, addressing the child she carries in her womb. She will not give birth to him in this country that took everything from her, she says. Then, the soliloquy of a driver-bookseller who makes her get into his car when she wanted to leave Oran on foot. In a memorial road trip, he will take Aube to this village where, one night, the Islamists killed and slit throats.

Past winners

Finally, over the last five years, the Goncourt Prize has been awarded to:

Leila Slimani for chanson douce in 2016.
Eric Vuillard for The Agenda in 2017.
Nicolas Mathieu for Their children after them in 2018.
Jean-Paul Dubois for Not all people live in the world in the same way. in 2019.
Hervé Le Tellier for his novel The Anomaly in 2020.
Mohamed Mbougar Sarr for The most secret memory of men in 2021.
Brigitte Giraud for her work Live Fast in 2022. .
Jean-Baptiste Andrea: Watch over her. (Editions: L'Iconoclaste)

The Goncourt jury

Furthermore, the Goncourt Academy is made up of ten volunteer members appointed for life:

Didier Decoin, member since 1995.
Françoise Chandernagor, member since 1995.
Tahar Ben Jelloun, member since 2008.
Christine Angot
Pierre Assouline, member since 2012.
Philippe Claudel, member since 2012.
Paule Constant, member since 2013.
Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, member since 2016.
Pascal Bruckner, member since 2020.
Camille Laurens, member since 2020.