2023-11-08 00:39:57
Invited on BFMTV a few hours after winning the Goncourt prize for “Veiller sur elle”, Jean-Baptiste Andrea could not hide this Tuesday, November 7, his “immense joy” while encouraging people to read “other books”.
The consecration for his fourth novel. This Tuesday, November 7, Jean-Baptiste Andrea won the Goncourt for “Veiller sur elle”, a fresco of more than 500 pages which combines the history of Italy in the 20th century, thwarted love and passion for art , published by a small publishing house, L’iconoclaste.
Invited on the set of BFMTV, he shared his “immense joy” at winning the most prestigious French-speaking literary prize.
“Emotionally, it’s very intense. It’s incredible,” he said on our antenna.
A close vote
The 52-year-old novelist was elected in the 14th round, proof of the dissensions within the jury chaired by Didier Decoin, whose vote counts double at the end.
He faced Éric Reinhardt, long considered favorite, Gaspard Koenig and Neige Sinno, rewarded Monday with the Femina prize. For Jean-Baptiste Andrea, the announcement of the winner is one of the most beautiful moments of his life, “along with the one when I published my first novel”, he said.
What are your children reading today?
“Veiller sur elle” is the fourth novel by Jean-Baptiste Andrea, who took his first steps in cinema before devoting himself late to literature, six years ago. This success is rather unexpected, according to its author. “We are very alone when we write and I remember very distinctly in the middle of this book stopping and saying to myself: ‘Actually, maybe only you will like this: the mixture of all these themes , the book has multiple resonances and perhaps it is only in his head that it resonates well in harmony,” he confided.
Jean-Baptiste Andrea humbly encouraged readers to obtain books from his competitors for a day: “I would like to recall with the immense joy that I have at having this prize which is inexpressible that there are also other books and that they must be read.”
His will be whatever happens. The Goncourt prize is the assurance of considerable sales during the last two months of the year, the most important for booksellers. They reach on average some 400,000 copies. Jean-Baptiste Andrea has already reached more than 50,000, a good start.
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