The 2024 Medici Prize was awarded, Wednesday, November 6, to the novelist Julia Deck50 years old, for son roman Ann of Englandpublished by Editions du Seuil. The title received in the third round five votes against four for Thomas Clerc, author of Paris, museum of the 21st century (Midnight). On the foreign novel side, Edward Halfon was awarded for Tarantula (translated from Spanish by David Fauquemberg, Quai Voltaire) by four votes to two in the eighth round, while Pure Stach received the essay prize for Kafka (tome 3), The years of youth (translated from German by Régis Quatresous, Le Cherche Midi).
“The Medici Prize is perhaps not the one that sells the most, but it is the one that has the most literary prestige. Once again, it is this message that we wanted to convey, that is to say that of a literary requirement (…) There are two types of Books. A bit like a cellar. There are things that you can drink, when you are thirsty, very quickly, and wines to keep. Well, there are also storage books, which you have to keep in the cellar, have a good case of them to be able to taste over time what they represent sensibly and intelligibly. Julia Deck Edouard Halfon are in line with this literary requirement”confided to Weekly Books Anne F. Garréta, president of the prize.
A first step towards autobiography
“This award gives us a lot of emotion, a lot of pleasure. It is a very important book in Julia's trajectory which marks a detour into autobiography, sparked by a dense, intense, charged personal story for her. He is also someone whose work I have followed since his first book, so it is a great pleasure to have been able to accompany this book. also shared Mathieu Larnodypublisher of the winner, at Seuil.
With this distinction, Julia Deck is the first female author of the 2024 literary season to win a grand fall prize. Former collaborator of Weekly Booksshe delivers with Ann of England his seventh novel. Marked by her mother's stroke in the summer of 2022, Julia Deck decides to tell, with very Anglo-Saxon humor, the journey of this Englishwoman from a working class background, passionate about literature and who ultimately rose socially to to settle in France. In the middle of her story, the author detects a strangeness and suspects her mother of having hidden certain family secrets from her.
Chaired by Anne F. Garréta, the jury is made up this year of Marianne Alphant, Michel Braudeau, Marie Darrieussecq, Patrick Grainville, Dominique Fernandez, Andreï Makine, Pascale Roze et Alain Veinstein. Note that it was announced that the presidency of the Medici Prize will be taken by Pascale Roze, starting next year.
Last year, the distinction was awarded, on the French-speaking novel side, to the Quebecois Kevin Lambert pour May our joy remain, published in Nouvel Attila. Two winners, Lydia Jorge pour Misericordia (Metalized) and Han Kang pour Impossible goodbyes (Grasset) were awarded the foreign novel prize. Finally, the test price was returned to Laure Murat pour Proust, roman familial (Robert Laffont).
The Medici Prizes 2024 Foreign novel and essay
The Medici Prize jury also crowned during this 66th edition:
2024 Medici Prize for foreign novel:
- Edward Halfon, Tarantulatranslated from Spanish (Guatemala) by David Fauquemberg (Quai Voltaire). In 1984, two young brothers exiled in the United States returned to Guatemala, in the heart of the Altiplano forest, to a camp for Jewish children. One morning, they were awakened in their tents by screams. Years later, the narrator returns to this episode from his childhood in civil war Guatemala, an episode whose ramifications become clear through chance encounters.
2024 Medici Prize for essay:
- Reiner Stach, Kafka (tome 3), The years of youth, translated from German by Régis Quatresous (Le Cherche Midi). Literary biography devoted to the life and work of Kafka. This third volume focuses on the writer's childhood with, as a backdrop, a description of Prague, its customs, its rites and its political and artistic trends of the time.
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