Prix Goncourt

The Prix Goncourt (French: Le prix Goncourt, IPA: [lə pʁi ɡɔ̃kuʁ], The Goncourt Prize) is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward of only 10 euros, but results in considerable recognition and book sales for the winning author. Four other prizes are also awarded: prix Goncourt du Premier Roman (first novel), prix Goncourt de la Nouvelle (short story), prix Goncourt de la Poésie (poetry) and prix Goncourt de la Biographie (biography). Of the "big six" French literary awards, the Prix Goncourt is the best known and most prestigious.^[1] The other major literary prizes include the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française, the Prix Femina, the Prix Renaudot, the Prix Interallié and the Prix Médicis.^[1]

Prix Goncourt
Awarded for	"the best and most imaginative prose work of the year"
Date	November, annual
Country	France
Presented by	Académie Goncourt
Reward(s)	€10
First awarded	1903
Website	academie-goncourt.fr

History

 

Edmond de Goncourt

Edmond de Goncourt, a successful author, critic, and publisher, bequeathed his estate for the foundation and maintenance of the Académie Goncourt.^[2] In honour of his brother and collaborator, Jules Alfred Huot de Goncourt (1830–1870), the académie has awarded the Prix Goncourt every December since 1903.^[2] The jury that determines the winner meets at the Drouant restaurant in November to make its decision.^[3] Notable winners of the prize include Marcel Proust (In Search of Lost Time), Simone de Beauvoir (The Mandarins), André Malraux (Man's Fate) and Marguerite Duras (The Lover).^[2]

The award was initially established to provide talented new authors with a monetary award that would allow them to write a second book.^[4] Today, the Goncourt has a token prize amount (around 10 euros), about the same amount given in 1903, and so the prestige of the prize has been explained not because of the cash-value of the prize, but "in terms of the tremendous book sales it effects: the Goncourt winner becomes an instant millionaire."^[5] Hervé Le Tellier's The Anomaly, which won the Goncourt in 2020, exceeded a million copies in less than a year after its publication.^[6]

In 1987, the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens was established, as a collaboration between the académie Goncourt, the French Ministry of Education, and Fnac, a book, music, and movie retailer.

The Prix Renaudot is announced at the same ceremony as the Prix Goncourt. It has become known as something of a second-place prize.^[7]

Controversies

 

Journalists at Le Drouant restaurant, 2016 Prix Goncourt.

Within months of the first prize in 1903, it spawned a "hostile counter-prize" in the form of the Prix Femina to counter the all-male Jury of the Goncourt with an all-female jury on the Femina.^[8]

Some decisions for awarding the prize have been controversial, a famous case being the decision to award the prize in 1919 to Marcel Proust; this was met with indignation, since many in the public felt that the prize should have gone to Roland Dorgelès for Les Croix de bois, a novel about the First World War.^[9][10] The prize was supposed to be awarded to promising young authors, whereas Proust was not considered "young" at 48 – however Proust was a beginning author which is the only eligibility requirement, age being unimportant.^[9][10]

In 1921, Rene Maran won the Goncourt with Batouala, veritable roman negre, the first French novel to openly criticize European colonialism in Africa.^[11] The novel caused "violent reactions" and was banned in all the French colonies.^[11]

In 1932, the prize was controversial for passing up Louis-Ferdinand Céline's Voyage au bout de la nuit for Guy Mazeline's Les Loups.^[12] The voting process became the basis of the 1992 book Goncourt 32 by Eugène Saccomano.^[13]

Although the award may only be given to an author once, Romain Gary won it twice, in 1956 for Les racines du ciel and again under the pseudonym Émile Ajar in 1975 for La vie devant soi.^[14] The Académie Goncourt awarded the prize to Ajar without knowing his real identity.^[14] A period of literary intrigue followed. Gary's cousin's son Paul Pavlowitch posed as the author for a time. Gary later revealed the truth in his posthumous book Vie et mort d'Émile Ajar.^[14]

In September 2021, the Goncourt attracted controversy after the jury decided, by a vote of 7 to 3, to include Les enfants de Cadillac by François Noudelmann on its 2021 list of finalists. Noudelmann is the partner of Camille Laurens, who is a member of the prize's jury. Laurens voted in favor of her partner's book.^[15] In October 2021, the Académie Goncourt ultimately decided that it will no longer allow lovers and family members of the jury to be entered for consideration.^[16]

Selection and voting process

The Prix Goncourt is divided into three selection stages. The first selection is typically composed of fifteen finalists. The second selection is typically composed of eight finalists, narrowed down from the previous fifteen. A third and final selection leaves four finalists.^[17]

In the voting rounds, a maximum of fourteen rounds can be carried out. To begin the deliberation process, the names of the four finalists are placed in a champagne bucket. In turn, the names are taken out and each member of the jury votes aloud in favour of, or in opposition to, the writer. An absolute majority—more than half the votes cast—is required until the tenth round, then a simple majority is sufficient to designate a winner. If, after fourteen rounds, there is no winner, the president's vote counts as double to determine a majority vote. At 12:45 p.m., the Secretary General, Philippe Claudel, appears in front of the crowd of journalists and announces the winner. The winner typically waits in a cafe near the Drouant so that they can arrive in time. The winner is interviewed by the media and is offered a symbolic check for ten euros.^[18]

Winners

Prix Goncourt winners^[19]

Year		Author	French title	English title	Transl. year	Film title	Film year	Notes	Publisher (x time)
1903		John Antoine Nau	Force ennemie	Enemy Force	2010	—	—		La Plume
1904		Léon Frapié	La Maternelle	—	—	La Maternelle	1933		Albin Michel
1905		Claude Farrère	Les Civilisés	—	—	—	—		Paul Ollendorff
1906		Jean and Jérôme Tharaud	Dingley, l'illustre écrivain	—	—	—	—		Édouard Pelletan
1907		Émile Moselly	Le Rouet d'ivoire and Jean des Brebis ou le livre de la misère	—	—	—	—	^[n 1]	Plon
1908		Francis de Miomandre	Écrit sur de l'eau...	—	—	—	—		Édition du Feu, later Émile-Paul Frères
1909		Marius-Ary Leblond	En France	—	—	—	—		Fasquelle
1910		Louis Pergaud	De Goupil à Margot	—	—	—	—		Mercure de France
1911		Alphonse de Châteaubriant	Monsieur des Lourdines	The Keynote	1912	Monsieur des Lourdines	1943		Grasset
1912		André Savignon	Les Filles de la pluie	—	—	—	—		Grasset (2)
1913		Marc Elder	Le peuple de la mer	—	—	—	—		Calmann-Lévy
1914		Adrien Bertrand	L'Appel du Sol	The Call of the Soil	1919	—	—	^[n 2]	Calmann-Lévy (2)
1915		René Benjamin	Gaspard	Private Gaspard	1916	—	—		Fayard
1916		Henri Barbusse	Le Feu	Under Fire	1917	—	—	^[n 3]	Flammarion
1917		Henry Malherbe	La Flamme au poing	The Flame That Is France	1918	—	—		Albin Michel (2)
1918		Georges Duhamel	Civilisation	Civilization	1919	—	—		Mercure de France (2)
1919		Marcel Proust	A l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs	Within a Budding Grove	1920	—	—	^[n 4]	Gallimard
1920		Ernest Pérochon	Nêne	Nêne	1920	Nène^[21]	1924		Plon (2)
1921		René Maran	Batouala	Batouala	1921	—	—		Albin Michel (3)
1922		Henri Béraud	Le vitriol de la lune and Le martyre de l'obèse	—	—	—	—		Albin Michel (4)
1923		Lucien Fabre	Rabevel ou Le mal des ardents	—	—	—	—		Gallimard (2)
1924		Thierry Sandre	Le Chèvrefeuille, le Purgatoire, le Chapitre XIII	—	—	—	—		Gallimard (3)
1925		Maurice Genevoix	Raboliot	—	—	Raboliot Raboliot^[22] Raboliot^[23]	1946 1972 2008		Grasset (3)
1926		Henri Deberly	Le supplice de Phèdre	—	—	—	—		Gallimard (4)
1927		Maurice Bedel	Jérôme 60° latitude nord	Jerome: or, The Latitude of Love	1928	—	—		Gallimard (5)
1928		Maurice Constantin-Weyer	Un Homme se penche sur son passé	A Man Scans His Past	1929	Un homme se penche sur son passé^[24] Les amants de rivière rouge^[25]	1958 1996		Rieder
1929		Marcel Arland	L'Ordre	—	—	L'Ordre^[26]	1985		Gallimard (6)
1930		H. Fauconnier	Malaisie	The Soul of Malaya or Malaisie	1931	—	—		Stock
1931		Jean Fayard	Mal d'amour	Desire	1931	—	—		Fayard (2)
1932		Guy Mazeline	Les Loups	The Wolves	1935	—	—		Gallimard (7)
1933		André Malraux	La Condition humaine	Man's Fate	1934	—	—		Gallimard (8)
1934		Roger Vercel	Capitaine Conan	Captain Conan	1935	Capitaine Conan	1996		Albin Michel (5)
1935		Joseph Peyre	Sang et Lumières	—	—	—	—		Grasset (4)
1936		Maxence Van Der Meersch	L'Empreinte de Dieu	Hath Not the Potter	1937	—	—		Albin Michel (6)
1937		Charles Plisnier	Faux passeports	—	—	—	—	^[n 5]	Corrêa
1938		Henri Troyat	L'Araigne	—	—	—	—		Plon (3)
1939		Philippe Hériat	Les enfants gâtés	—	—	—	—		Gallimard (9)
1940		Francis Ambrière	Les grandes vacances	The Long Holiday	1948	—	—	^[n 6]	Nouvelle France
1941		Henri Pourrat	Vent de Mars	—	—	—	—		Gallimard (10)
1942		Marc Bernard	Pareil à des enfants	—	—	—	—		Gallimard (11)
1943		Marius Grout	Passage de l'Homme	When the Man Passed By	1962	—	—		Gallimard (12)
1944		Elsa Triolet	Le premier accroc coûte 200 Francs	A Fine of Two Hundred Francs	1947	—	—		Denoël
1945		Jean-Louis Bory	Mon village à l'heure allemande	—	—	—	—		Flammarion (2)
1946		Jean-Jacques Gautier	Histoire d'un Fait divers	—	—	—	—		Julliard
1947		Jean-Louis Curtis	Les Forêts de la Nuit	The Forests of the Night	1950	—	—		Julliard (2)
1948		Maurice Druon	Les grandes familles	The Rise of Simon Lachaume	1952	The Possessors Les grandes familles^[27]	1958 1989		Julliard (3)
1949		Robert Merle	Week-end à Zuydcoote	Week-end at Zuydcoote	1950	Weekend at Dunkirk	1964		Gallimard (13)
1950		Paul Colin	Les jeux sauvages	Savage Play	1953	—	—		Gallimard (14)
1951		Julien Gracq	Le Rivage des Syrtes	The Opposing Shore	1986	—	—	^[n 7]	José Corti
1952		Béatrix Beck	Léon Morin, prêtre	The Priest (UK), The Passionate Heart (US)	1953	Léon Morin, Priest Léon Morin, prêtre^[28]	1961 1991		Gallimard (15)
1953		Pierre Gascar	Les Bêtes	—	—	—	—		Gallimard (16)
1954		Simone de Beauvoir	Les Mandarins	The Mandarins	1957	—	—		Gallimard (17)
1955		Roger Ikor	Les eaux mêlées	—	—	Les eaux mêlées^[29]	1969		Albin Michel (7)
1956		Romain Gary	Les racines du ciel	The Roots of Heaven	1957	The Roots of Heaven	1958		Gallimard (18)
1957		Roger Vailland	La Loi	The Law	1958	The Law	1959		Gallimard (19)
1958		Francis Walder	Saint-Germain ou la négociation	—	—	—	—		Gallimard (20)
1959		André Schwarz-Bart	Le dernier des Justes	The Last of the Just	1960	—	—		Seuil
1960		Vintilă Horia	Dieu est né en exil	God Was Born in Exile	1961	—	—		Fayard (3)
1961		Jean Cau	La pitié de Dieu	The Mercy of God	1963	—	—		Gallimard (21)
1962		Anna Langfus	Les bagages de sable	The Lost Shore	1964	—	—		Gallimard (22)
1963		Armand Lanoux	Quand la mer se retire	—	—	Quand la mer se retire^[30]	1963		Julliard (4)
1964		Georges Conchon	L'Etat sauvage	—	—	The Savage State	1978		Albin Michel (8)
1965		Jacques Borel	L'Adoration	The Bond	1968	—	—		Gallimard (23)
1966		Edmonde Charles-Roux	Oublier Palerme	To Forget Palermo	1968	Dimenticare Palermo	1990		Grasset (5)
1967		André Pieyre de Mandiargues	La Marge	The Margin	1970	The Margin	1976		Gallimard (24)
1968		Bernard Clavel	Les fruits de l'hiver	The Fruits of Winter	1969	—	—		Robert Laffont
1969		Félicien Marceau	Creezy	Creezy	1970	Creezy	1974		Gallimard (25)
1970		Michel Tournier	Le Roi des Aulnes	The Erl-King (UK) or The Ogre (US)	1972	The Ogre	1996		Gallimard (26)
1971		Jacques Laurent	Les Bêtises	—	—	—	—		Grasset (6)
1972		Jean Carrière	L'Epervier de Maheux	—	—	—	—		Pauvert
1973		Jacques Chessex	L'Ogre	A Father's Love (1975) or The Tyrant (2012)	1975	—	—	^[n 8]	Grasset (7)
1974		Pascal Lainé	La Dentellière	A Web of Lace (1976) or The Lacemaker (2008)^[31]	1976	The Lacemaker	1977		Gallimard (27)
1975		Émile Ajar (Romain Gary)	La vie devant soi	Momo (1978) or The Life Before Us (1986)	1978	Madame Rosa The Life Ahead	1977 2020	^[n 9]	Mercure de France (3)
1976		Patrick Grainville	Les Flamboyants	—	—	—	—		Seuil (2)
1977		Didier Decoin	John l'enfer	—	—	—	—		Seuil (3)
1978		Patrick Modiano	Rue des boutiques obscures	Missing Person	1980	—	—		Gallimard (28)
1979		Antonine Maillet	Pélagie-la-Charrette	Pélagie: The Return to Acadie	1982	—	—		Grasset (8)
1980		Yves Navarre	Le Jardin d'acclimatation	Cronus' Children	1986	—	—		Flammarion (3)
1981		Lucien Bodard	Anne-Marie	—	—	—	—		Grasset (9)
1982		Dominique Fernandez	Dans la main de l'Ange	—	—	—	—		Grasset (10)
1983		Frédérick Tristan	Les égarés	The Lost Ones	1991	—	—		Balland
1984		Marguerite Duras	L'Amant	The Lover	1986	The Lover	1992		Minuit
1985		Yann Queffélec	Les Noces barbares	The Wedding	1987	The Cruel Embrace	1987		Gallimard (29)
1986		Michel Host	Valet de nuit	—	—	—	—		Grasset (11)
1987		Tahar Ben Jelloun	La Nuit sacrée	The Sacred Night	1989	La Nuit sacrée^[32]	1993		Seuil (4)
1988		Érik Orsenna	L'Exposition coloniale	Love and Empire	1991	—	—		Seuil (5)
1989		Jean Vautrin	Un grand pas vers le Bon Dieu	—	—	—	—		Grasset (12)
1990		Jean Rouaud	Les Champs d'honneur	Fields of Glory	1992	—	—		Minuit (2)
1991		Pierre Combescot	Les Filles du Calvaire	—	—	—	—		Grasset (13)
1992		Patrick Chamoiseau	Texaco	Texaco	1998	—	—		Gallimard (30)
1993		Amin Maalouf	Le Rocher de Tanios	The Rock of Tanios	1994	—	—		Grasset (14)
1994		Didier Van Cauwelaert	Un Aller simple	One-Way	2003	One Way Ticket^[33]	2001		Albin Michel (9)
1995		Andreï Makine	Le Testament français	Dreams of My Russian Summers	1998	—	—		Mercure de France (4)
1996		Pascale Roze	Le Chasseur Zéro	—	—	—	—		Albin Michel (10)
1997		Patrick Rambaud	La Bataille	The Battle	2000	—	—		Grasset (15)
1998		Paule Constant	Confidence pour confidence	Trading Secrets	2001	—	—		Gallimard (31)
1999		Jean Echenoz	Je m'en vais	I'm Gone (US) or I'm Off (UK)	2001	—	—		Minuit (3)
2000		Jean-Jacques Schuhl	Ingrid Caven	Ingrid Caven	2004	—	—		Gallimard (32)
2001		Jean-Christophe Rufin	Rouge Brésil	Brazil Red	2004	—	—		Gallimard (33)
2002		Pascal Quignard	Les Ombres errantes	The Roving Shadows	2011	—	—		Grasset (16)
2003		Jacques-Pierre Amette	La maîtresse de Brecht	Brecht's Lover (US) or Brecht's Mistress (UK)	2005	—	—		Albin Michel (11)
2004		Laurent Gaudé	Le Soleil des Scorta	The House of Scorta (US 2006) The Scortas' Sun (UK 2007)	2006	—	—		Actes Sud
2005		François Weyergans	Trois jours chez ma mère	—	—	—	—		Grasset (17)
2006		Jonathan Littell	Les Bienveillantes	The Kindly Ones	2009	—	—		Gallimard (34)
2007		Gilles Leroy	Alabama Song	—	—	—	—		Mercure de France (5)
2008		Atiq Rahimi	Syngué Sabour: La pierre de patience	Stone of Patience (UK) or The Patience Stone (US)	2010	The Patience Stone	2012		P.O.L
2009		Marie NDiaye	Trois femmes puissantes	Three Strong Women	2012	—	—		Gallimard (35)
2010		Michel Houellebecq	La Carte et le territoire	The Map and the Territory	2012	—	—		Flammarion (4)
2011		Alexis Jenni	L'Art français de la guerre	The French Art of War	2017	—	—		Gallimard (36)
2012		Jérôme Ferrari	Le Sermon sur la chute de Rome	The Sermon on the Fall of Rome	2014	—	—		Actes Sud (2)
2013		Pierre Lemaitre	Au revoir là-haut	The Great Swindle	2015	See You Up There	2017		Albin Michel (12)
2014		Lydie Salvayre	Pas pleurer	Cry, Mother Spain	2016	—	—		Seuil (6)
2015		Mathias Énard	Boussole	Compass	2017	—	—		Actes Sud (3)
2016		Leïla Slimani	Chanson douce	Lullaby (UK) The Perfect Nanny (USA)	2018	Perfect Nanny	2019		Gallimard (37)
2017		Éric Vuillard	L'Ordre du jour	The Order of the Day	2018	—	—		Actes Sud (4)
2018		Nicolas Mathieu	Leurs enfants après eux	And Their Children After Them	2019	—	—		Actes Sud (5)
2019		Jean-Paul Dubois	Tous les hommes n'habitent pas le monde de la même façon	Not Everybody Lives the Same Way	2022	—	—		L'Olivier
2020		Hervé Le Tellier	L'Anomalie	The Anomaly	2021	—	—		Gallimard (38)
2021		Mohamed Mbougar Sarr	La plus secrète mémoire des hommes	The Most Secret Memory of Men	2023	—	—	^[n 10]	Philippe Rey / Jimsaan
2022		Brigitte Giraud	Vivre Vite	—	—	—	—		Flammarion (5)
2023		Jean-Baptiste Andrea	Veiller sur elle	—	—	—	—		L'Iconoclaste (1)

Other awards

In addition to the Prix Goncourt for a novel, the Academy Awards four other awards, for first novel, short story, biography and poetry.

As of March 2009, the académie changed the award name by dropping "bourses" ("scholarship") from the title.^[35][36] The prefix "prix" can be included or not, such as "Prix Goncourt de la Poésie" (Goncourt prize for Poetry) or "Goncourt de la Poésie" (Goncourt of Poetry). For example: "Claude Vigée was awarded a Goncourt de la Poésie in 2008". Or, "Claude Vigée won the 2008 prix Goncourt de la Poésie".

The award titles are:

Pre-2009 award name	Post-2009 award name	Category
Bourse Goncourt de la Biographie	Prix Goncourt de la Biographie	Biography
Bourse Goncourt de la Nouvelle	Prix Goncourt de la Nouvelle	Short story
Bourse Goncourt du Premier Roman	Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman	Debut novel
Bourse Goncourt de la Poésie	Prix Goncourt de la Poésie	Poetry
Bourse Goncourt Jeunesse	discontinued	Juvenile

The winners are listed below.^[37]

Prix Goncourt de la Biographie

Goncourt Prize for biography. Awarded in partnership with the city of Nancy. The prize was renamed officially in 2017 the Prix Goncourt de la Biographie Edmonde Charles-Roux, after a former president of the Goncourt Academy.

• 1980 – Jean Lacouture, François Mauriac
• 1981 – Hubert Juin, Victor Hugo
• 1982 – Pierre Sipriot, René Depestre
• 1983 – Ghislain de Diesbach, Madame de Staël
• 1984 – Jeanne Champion, Suzanne Valadon
• 1985 – Georges Poisson, Laclos ou l'Obstination
• 1986 – Jean Canavaggio, Cervantes
• 1987 – Michel Surya, Georges Bataille, la mort à l'œuvre
• 1988 – Frédéric Vitoux, La Vie de Louis-Ferdinand Céline
• 1989 – Joanna Richardson, Judith Gautier
• 1990 – Pierre Citron, Giono
• 1991 – Odette Joyeux, Le Troisième œil, la vie de Nicéphore Niepce
• 1992 – Philippe Beaussant, Lully
• 1993 – Jean Bothorel, Louise de Vilmorin
• 1994 – David Bellos, Georges Perec
• 1995 – Henry Gidel, Les Deux Guitry
• 1996 – Anka Muhlstein, Astolphe de Custine
• 1997 – Jean-Claude Lamy, Prévert, les frères
• 1998 – Christian Liger, Le Roman de Rossel
• 1999 – Claude Pichois and Alain Brunet, Colette
• 2000 – Dominique Bona, Berthe Morisot
• 2001 – Laure Murat, La maison du docteur Blanche
• 2002 – Jean-Paul Goujon, Une Vie Secrète (1870–1925); Mille lettres de Pierre Louÿs à Georges Louis (1890–1917)
• 2003 – Pierre Billard, Louis Malle
• 2004 – Claude Dufresne, Appelez-moi George Sand
• 2005 – Thibaut d'Anthonay, Jean Lorrain
• 2006 – Angie David, Dominique Aury
• 2007 – Patrice Locmant, Huysmans, le forçat de la vie
• 2008 – Jennifer Lesieur, Jack London
• 2009 – Viviane Forrester, Virginia Woolf
• 2010 – Michel Winock, Madame de Stael
• 2011 – Maurizio Serra, Malaparte, vies et légendes
• 2012 – David Haziot, Le Roman des Rouart
• 2013 – Pascal Mérigeau, Jean Renoir
• 2014 – Jean Lebrun, Notre Chanel^[38]
• 2015 – Jean-Christophe Attias, Moïse fragile^[39]
• 2016 – Philippe Forest, Aragon
• 2017 – Marianne and Claude Schopp, Dumas fils ou l'Anti-Œdipe
• 2018 – Denis Demonpion, Salinger intime
• 2019 – Frédéric Pajak, Manifeste incertain, volume 7: Emily Dickinson, Marina Tsvetaïeva, l'immense poésie
• 2021 – Pauline Dreyfous, Paul Morand
• 2022 - Jean-Pierre Langellier, Léopold Sédar Senghor
• 2023 - Claude Burgelin, Georges Perec

Prix Goncourt de la Nouvelle

Goncourt Prize for short stories. Begun in 1974 in the form of scholarships. Awarded in partnership with the city of Strasbourg since 2001.

• 1974 – Daniel Boulanger, Fouette, cocher !
• 1975 – S. Corinna Bille, La Demoiselle sauvage
• 1976 – Antoine Blondin, Quat'saisons
• 1977 – Henri Gougaud, Départements et territoires d'outre-mort
• 1978 – Christiane Baroche, Chambres, avec vue sur le passé
• 1979 – Andrée Chedid, Le Corps et le Temps
• 1980 – Guy Lagorce, Les Héroïques
• 1981 – Annie Saumont, Quelquefois dans les cérémonies
• 1982 – René Depestre, Alléluia pour une femme-jardin
• 1983 – Raymond Jean, Un fantasme de Bella B.
• 1984 – Alain Gerber, Les Jours de vin et de roses
• 1985 – Pierrette Fleutiaux, Métamorphoses de la reine
• 1986 – Jean Vautrin, Baby-boom
• 1987 – Noëlle Châtelet, Histoires de bouche
• 1988 – Jean-Louis Hue, Dernières Nouvelles du Père Noël
• 1989 – Paul Fournel, Les Athlètes dans leur tête
• 1990 – Jacques Bens, Nouvelles désenchantées
• 1991 – Rafaël Pividal, Le Goût de la catastrophe
• 1992 – Catherine Lépront, Trois gardiennes
• 1993 – Mariette Condroyer, Un après-midi plutôt gai
• 1994 – Jean-Christophe Duchon-Doris, Les Lettres du baron
• 1996 – Ludovic Janvier, En mémoire du lit
• 1997 – François Sureau, Le Sphinx de Darwin
• 1999 – Elvire de Brissac, Les anges d'en bas
• 2000 – Catherine Paysan, Les Désarmés
• 2001 – Stéphane Denis, Elle a maigri pour le festival
• 2002 – Sébastien Lapaque, Mythologie Française
• 2003 – Philippe Claudel, Les petites mécaniques
• 2004 – Olivier Adam, Passer l'hiver
• 2005 – Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud, Singe savant tabassé par deux clowns
• 2006 – Franz Bartelt, Le Bar des habitudes
• 2007 – Brigitte Giraud, L'Amour est très surestimé
• 2008 – Jean-Yves Masson, Ultimes vérités sur la mort du nageur
• 2009 – Sylvain Tesson, Une vie à coucher dehors
• 2010 – Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt, Concerto à la mémoire d'un ange
• 2011 – Bernard Comment, Tout passe
• 2012 – Didier Daeninckx, L'Espoir en contrebande
• 2013 – Fouad Laroui, L'Étrange Affaire du pantalon de Dassoukine
• 2014 – Nicolas Cavaillès, Vie de monsieur Leguat^[40]
• 2015 – Patrice Franceschi, Première personne du singulier^[41]
• 2016 – Marie-Hélène Lafon, Histoires
• 2017 – Raphaël Haroche, Retourner à la mer
• 2018 – Régis Jauffret, Microfictions 2018
• 2019 – Caroline Lamarche, Nous sommes à la lisière
• 2020 – Anne Serre, Au cœur d'un été tout en or
• 2021 – Shmuel T. Meyer, Et la guerre est finie...
• 2022 - Antoine Wauters, Le museé des contradictions
• 2023 - David Thomas, Partout les autres

Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman

Goncourt Prize for debut novel. Awarded in partnership with the municipality of Paris.

• 1990 – Hélène de Monferrand, Les amies d'Héloïse
• 1991 – Armande Gobry-Valle, Iblis ou la défroque du serpent
• 1992 – Nita Rousseau, Les iris bleus
• 1993 – Bernard Chambaz, L'arbre de vies
• 1994 – Bernard Lamarche-Vadel, Vétérinaires
• 1995 – Florence Seyvos, Les apparitions
• 1996 – Yann Moix, Jubilations vers le ciel
• 1997 – Jean-Christophe Rufin, L'abyssin
• 1998 – Shan Sa, Porte de la paix céleste
• 1999 – Nicolas Michel, Un revenant
• 2000 – Benjamin Berton, Sauvageons
• 2001 – Salim Bachi, Le chien d'Ulysse
• 2002 – Soazig Aaron, Le non-de Klara
• 2003 – Claire Delannoy, La guerre, l'Amérique
• 2004 – Françoise Dorner, La fille du rang derrière
• 2005 – Alain Jaubert, Val Paradis
• 2006 – Hédi Kaddour, Waltenberg
• 2007 – Frédéric Brun, Perla
• 2008 – Jakuta Alikavazovic, Corps volatils
• 2009 – Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, Une éducation libertine
• 2010 – Laurent Binet, HHhH
• 2011 – Michel Rostain, Le Fils
• 2012 – François Garde, Ce qu'il advint du sauvage blanc
• 2013 – Alexandre Postel, Un homme effacé
• 2014 – Frédéric Verger, Arden^[42]
• 2015 – Kamel Daoud, The Meursault Investigation^[43]
• 2016 – Joseph Andras, De nos frères blessés [fr]. Author declined the prize.^[44]
• 2017 – Maryam Madjidi, Marx et la poupée^[45]
• 2018 – Mahir Guven, Grand frère
• 2019 – Marie Gauthier, Court vêtue
• 2020 – Maylis Besserie, Le Tiers Temps
• 2021 – Émilienne Malfatto, Que sur toi se lamente le Tigre
• 2022 - Étienne Kern, Les envolés
• 2023 - Pauline Peyarde, L'âge de détruire

Prix Goncourt de la Poésie

Goncourt Prize for poetry. Established through the bequest of Adrien Bertrand (Prix Goncourt in 1914). The award is for the poet's entire career work. The prize was officially renamed in 2012 the Prix Goncourt de la Poésie Robert Sabatier, after the poet.

• 1985 – Claude Roy
• 1986 – postponed to 1987^[46]
• 1987 – Yves Bonnefoy
• 1988 – Eugène Guillevic
• 1989 – Alain Bosquet
• 1990 – Charles Le Quintrec
• 1991 – Jean-Claude Renard
• 1992 – Georges-Emmanuel Clancier
• 1993 – not awarded^[46]
• 1994 – not awarded^[46]
• 1995 – Lionel Ray
• 1996 – André Velter
• 1997 – Maurice Chappaz
• 1998 – Lorand Gaspar
• 1999 – Jacques Réda
• 2000 – Liliane Wouters
• 2001 – Claude Esteban
• 2002 – Andrée Chedid
• 2003 – Philippe Jaccottet
• 2004 – Jacques Chessex
• 2005 – Charles Dobzynski
• 2006 – Alain Jouffroy
• 2007 – Marc Alyn
• 2008 – Claude Vigée
• 2009 – Abdellatif Laabi
• 2010 – Guy Goffette
• 2011 – Vénus Khoury-Ghata
• 2012 – Jean-Claude Pirotte
• 2013 – Charles Juliet
• 2014 – not awarded
• 2015 – William Cliff^[47]
• 2016 – Le Printemps des Poètes
• 2017 – Franck Venaille
• 2018 – Anise Koltz
• 2019 – Yvon Le Men
• 2020 – Michel Deguy
• 2021 – Jacques Roubaud^[48]
• 2022 - Jean-Michel Maulpoix
• 2023 - Laura Vasquez

Bourse Goncourt Jeunesse

Goncrout Prize for children's literature. Awarded in partnership with the municipality of Fontvieille. Discontinued after 2007.

• 1999 – Claude Guillot and Fabienne Burckel, Le fantôme de Shanghai
• 2000 – Eric Battut, Rouge Matou
• 2002 – Fred Bernard and François Roca, Jeanne and le Mokélé and Jesus Betz
• 2003 – Yvan Pommaux, Avant la Télé
• 2004 – Jean Chalon and Martine Delerm, Un arbre dans la lune
• 2005 – Natali Fortier, Lili Plume
• 2006 – Bernard du Boucheron and Nicole Claveloux, Un roi, une princesse and une pieuvre
• 2007 – Véronique Ovaldé and Joëlle Jolivet, La très petite Zébuline

Prix Goncourt des Lycéens

Main article: Prix Goncourt des Lycéens

See also

• Prix Renaudot – announced at the same ceremony as the Prix Goncourt, it has become something of a second-place prize.
• Prix Goncourt des Lycéens
• Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française
• List of French literary awards

For a more comprehensive overview a list of literary awards is available.

Notes and references

Notes

1. Pseudonym of Émile Chénin
2. Awarded in 1916. See footnote.^[20]
3. See footnote.^[20]
4. Volume 2 of In Search of Lost Time
5. First foreigner to win Prix Goncourt.
6. Published and awarded in 1946 due to WWII.
   Non-fiction memoir.
7. Refused prize.
8. The translated editions from 1975 & 2012 are the same by Martin Sokolinsky.
9. The rules of the Prix Goncourt state that an author can win only once. Gary had already won in 1956 for Les racines du ciel. However, since La vie devant soi was published under the pseudonym Émile Ajar, the Académie Goncourt awarded the prize without knowing the author's true identity. Gary's cousin's son Paul Pavlowitch posed as the author for a time.
10. First winner of the Goncourt from Sub-Saharan Africa^[34]

References

1. Unwin, Timothy (1997). "Introduction". The Cambridge Companion to the French Novel: From 1800 to the Present. Cambridge University Press. p. xxii. ISBN 9780521499149. The 'big six' literary prizes in France have an extremely high profile and are, significantly, all awarded for novels. The best known and most prestigious is the Prix Goncourt. The other major literary prizes are the Grand Prix du Roman de l'Academie Francaise, the Prix Femina (awarded by a jury of women, though not necessarily to a female novelist), the Prix Renaudot, the Prix Interallie and the Prix Medicis.
2. Burke, David (2008). Writers in Paris: Literary Lives in the City of Light. Counterpoint Press. p. 181. ISBN 9781593761578.
3. Glyn, Anthony (2000). The Companion Guide to Paris. Companion Guides. p. 98. ISBN 9781900639200.
4. Sally J. Scholz (2005). The Contradictions of Freedom: Philosophical Essays on Simone de Beauvoir's The Mandarins. SUNY Press. p. 18. ISBN 9780791465608.
5. James F English (2009). The Economy of Prestige: prizes, awards, and the circulation of cultural value. Harvard University Press. p. 61. ISBN 9780674036536.
6. Girgis, Dahlia (7 May 2021). "Un tirage total d'un million d'exemplaires pour "L'anomalie"". Livres Hebdo (in French). Retrieved 8 August 2021.
7. Hollier, Denis (1994). A New History of French Literature. Harvard University Press. p. 967. ISBN 9780674615663.
8. James F English (2009). The Economy of Prestige: prizes, awards, and the circulation of cultural value. Harvard University Press. p. 61. ISBN 9780674036536.
9. Rodic, Vesna (2008). Lyricism and Politics in Paul Valery's Poetry and Poetic Theory and in "La Nouvelle Revue Francaise", 1909–1939. ISBN 9781109096477.
10. Ashley, Katherine, ed. (2004). "L'Attribution du prix Goncourt à Proust en 1919". Prix Goncourt, 1902–2003: essals critiques (in French). Bern: Peter Lang. ISBN 9783039100187.
11. Unwin, Timothy (1997). "The colonial and postcolonial Francophone novel". The Cambridge Companion to the French Novel: From 1800 to the Present. Cambridge University Press. p. 195. ISBN 9780521499149.
12. Ashley, Katherine, ed. (2004). Prix Goncourt, 1902–2003: essals critiques (in French). Bern: Peter Lang. p. 16. ISBN 9783039100187.
13. Lapaque, Sébastien (16 September 1999). Céline-Mazeline sur le ring (in French). {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
14. Ashley, Katherine, ed. (2004). "Avant propos". Prix Goncourt, 1902–2003: essals critiques (in French). Bern: Peter Lang. ISBN 9783039100187.
15. Onishi, Norimitsu; Méheut, Constant (29 September 2021). "In Paris, It's Literary Scandal Season Again". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
16. "No lovers allowed in top French book prize after ethics scandal". France 24. Agence France-Presse. 5 October 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
17. "Prix Goncourt – Présentation". Académie Goncourt (in French). Retrieved 7 November 2021.
18. Carreau, Nicolas (3 November 2021). "Goncourt : comment est remis le prix et qui est le favori cette année ?". Europe 1 (in French). Retrieved 7 November 2021.
19. "Tous les lauréats". Académie Goncourt (in French). Retrieved 7 November 2021.
20. No award was given in 1914 due to the war. In 1916 two awards were given, one for 1916 (Barbusse) and one for 1914 (Bertrand).
21. Nène at IMDb
22. Raboliot at IMDb
23. Raboliot at IMDb
24. Un homme se penche sur son passé at IMDb
25. Les amants de rivière rouge at IMDb
26. L'Ordre at IMDb
27. Les grandes familles at IMDb
28. Léon Morin, prêtre at IMDb
29. Les eaux mêlées at IMDb
30. Quand la mer se retire at IMDb
31. Translated by David Dugan. The Dirty Goat, issue 18, pg. 170 14 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
32. La Nuit sacrée at IMDb
33. One Way Ticket at IMDb
34. "Mohamed Mbougar Sarr wins Goncourt Prize, France's most prestigious literary award". France 24. 3 November 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
35. Autres prix décernés par l'Académie Goncourt
36. Les Goncourt surfent, Le Figaro, 29 January 2009
37. Autres prix décernés par l'Académie Goncourt: Lauréats
38. "Le Goncourt de la biographie à Jean Lebrun pour "Notre Chanel"". lepoint.fr (in French). AFP. 3 June 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2015.
39. Eloy, Morgane (3 June 2015). "Jean-Christophe Attias, prix Goncourt de la biographie". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 3 July 2015.
40. Marie-Christine Imbault (4 March 2014). "Le Goncourt de la Nouvelle récompense Nicolas Cavaillès". livreshebdo.fr (in French). Retrieved 3 July 2015.
41. Auproux, Agathe (5 May 2015). "Le prix Goncourt de la nouvelle est attribué à Patrice Franceschi". livreshebdo.fr (in French). Retrieved 3 July 2015.
42. Dargent, Françoise (4 March 2013). "Frédéric Verger, Goncourt du premier roman". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 5 March 2014.
43. "Le Goncourt du premier roman 2015". Academie Goncourt. 5 May 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
44. John Dugdale (21 May 2016). "How to turn down a prestigious literary prize – a winner's guide to etiquette". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
45. "Le Goncourt du premier roman à Maryam Madjidi". Le Monde.fr. Éditions Attila [fr]. 3 May 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
46. "Academie Goncourt".
47. Auproux, Agathe (5 May 2015). "Le prix Goncourt de la poésie Robert Sabatier est décerné à William Cliff". Livres Hebdo (in French). Retrieved 3 July 2015.
48. Gabinari, Pauline (4 May 2021). "Le Goncourt de la poésie Robert Sabatier 2021 couronne Jacques Roubaud". Livres Hebdo (in French). Retrieved 21 October 2021.