Jean-Philippe Toussaint, Eric Reinhardt, Kevin Lambert, Léonor de Récondo… The first selection of Goncourt 2023 has fallen – Liberation

2023-09-06 09:57:15

The jury of the prestigious literary prize unveiled its first selection on Tuesday. We will know the name of the winner on November 7.

The Goncourt Academy unveiled its long-awaited first selection on Tuesday. Of the sixteen novels selected by the ten jurors, including Christine Angot elected in February for cover number 5 in place of Patrick Rambaud, five are published by Gallimard, including Sarah, Susanne and the writer by Eric Reinhardt or the Ideal Conditions of the First -novelist Mokhtar Amoudi. With these five titles, the Madrigall group thus assumes seven works in the selection, since it is necessary to add one from Minuit and one from POL Last year, it was Brigitte Giraud (Flammarion, Madrigall group) who had taken away with Vivre vite, a story around the death of his companion. Some of the titles selected this year also lean towards narrative, such as Triste tigre by Neige Sinno at POL, L’Echiquier by Jean-Philippe Toussaint (Minuit) or Proust, a family novel by historian Laure Murat (Robert Laffont), which mixes an experimental reading of the Search for his family history. Two Grassets (signed Léonor de Récondo and Antoine Sénanque) are in competition, the other houses counting a title in the list. One of them, Veiller sur elle by Jean-Baptiste Andrea (the Iconoclast) has already been crowned by the Fnac prize. Also featured are Propagandist by Cécile Desprairies (Seuil), Les Amants du Lutetia by Émilie Frèche (Albin Michel), Revolt of the Lost Girls by Dorothée Janin (Stock), Humus by Gaspard Koenig (L’Observatoire), May Our Joy Remain by Kevin Lambert (The New Attila).

The announcement of the academicians immediately triggered the Goncourt des Lycéens and Goncourt detainees process launched in 2022, which will also have to decide on the sixteen titles in the running, written by nine men and seven women. A second selection is scheduled for October 3, then the third which will only have four names left, revealed on October 25 in Krakow, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first “Goncourt choice”. End point on November 7, at the Drouant restaurant in Paris, as tradition dictates.