the literary prize hunt is open

The ladies of Femina will open the ball of contenders for literary glory Monday, followed the next day by the jury of the Medici, before the attribution of Goncourt and Renaudot Wednesday.

Four contenders are in the running for Goncourt, the most coveted literary prize in the French-speaking world: David Diop, 52, for Brother of soul (Threshold), Paul Greveillac, 37, for Masters and slaves (Gallimard), Nicolas Mathieu, 40 years old, for Their children after them (Actes Sud) and Thomas B. Reverdy, 44, for Winter of discontentt (Flammarion).

David Diop, favorite of journalists

Who will succeed Éric Vuillard, winner of the Goncourt last year? Like every year, the professional magazine Hebdo Books interviewed seventeen literary journalists to gather their prognosis.

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If the intuition of these journalists are correct, David Diop, the only author to appear in almost all the selections (he is also in the running for the Femina, Medici and Renaudot) should win the cup. A majority of journalists (nine out of seventeen) see him getting the prize.

As we commemorate the centenary of the end of the Great War, Brother of soul brings us back to hell trenches. The story is told by a Senegalese gunman who sinks into madness after the death of one of his fellow soldiers.

Paul Greveillac got three votes, Nicolas Mathieu and Thomas B. Reverdy one vote, while three critics refused to speak.

The Philippe Lançon case

Hebdo Books is not content to ask the specialized journalists who, according to them, will have the Goncourt, but also who would have deserved to have it. To this question, the name of Philippe Lançon comes back most often. But The flap (Gallimard), the book of the survivor of the attack of Charlie Hebdo, was not retained by the jury of Goncourt.

"This novel is not a work of imagination, it is a testimony (…) it is a very good book, perhaps one of the most beautiful of the year, but it does not correspond what the Goncourt is waiting for, that is, crowning a novel of imagination ", justified Bernard Pivot, president of Goncourt.

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For many, this decision is a mistake. Not having retained Lançon is "a dumpling Goncourt grand cru, worthy of wolves Guy Mazeline, winning (in 1932) on journey to the Edge of the Night Céline ", believes Baptiste Liger, managing editor of Read.

Winner in September of the Roman News prize, Philippe Lançon indirectly answered Bernard Pivot explaining that his work was "a work of imagination like any act of creation". "I did not imagine what I experienced from January 7 to November 13, 2015. I have not imagined what I'm saying. But I imagined how to write and compose it, "he said, receiving his prize.

The jury of Femina and that of Renaudot have made the opposite choice of Goncourt, retaining Philippe Lançon among their finalists.

First novel

The Goncourt and Renaudot will be proclaimed Wednesday, shortly before 1 pm, at the restaurant Drouant, not far from the Paris Opera. Didier Decoin, Secretary General of the Goncourt Academy, will take the floor first, followed by Louis Gardel, who is chairing the Renaudot jury this year. The Femina will be proclaimed Monday in a lounge Circle Union Union, close to the Elysee, while the Medici will be known at the restaurant La Mediterranee, Place de l'Odeon.

»READ ALSO – Renaudot Award: David Diop, Philippe Lançon favorites

Goncourt averages more than 400,000 copies, Renaudot more than 250,000, Femina 60,000 copies and Medici 45,000. While the autumn literary season has been marked by a profusion of first novels (94 in total, never seen since 2007), only one is in the running for a literary prize. It was the Medici who made this bold choice by retaining It tells Sarah (Midnight) Pauline Delabroy-Allard.

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