Like last year, 59 titles were selected by the juries of the seven Fall 2024 Grand Prix classified as such by Weekly Books which are the Goncourt, Renaudot, Femina, Medicis, Interallié, Décembre and Novel prizes of the French Academy.
The first-time novelists of the fall 2024 grand prizes
- Ruben Barrouk – All the noise of Guéliz – Albin Michel (Goncourt)
- Laura Gauthier – Melusine reloaded – Corti (Medici, December)
- Clement Ribes – A thousand images of Jérémie – Vertical (Medical)
- Félicia Viti – The vertical girl – Gallimard (Physician)
In these first selections, we find 27 titles by novelists, four first novels and 10 second novels, such as Like Gil Shane Haddad (POL), selected for the Femina and Medicis prizes or even Jacaranda of Gail Faye (Grasset) included in the first lists of Goncourt, Renaudot, Femina and Roman of the French Academy.
This last title is also one of the six to appear in so many selections, with those of Kamel Daoud (Houris – Flammarion), Thibault de Montaigu (Heart – Albin Michel) and Jean-Noël Orengo (You are the Führer’s unhappy love – Grasset). These four titles have in common that they are in the lists of the Goncourt and Renaudot prizes. Abdellah Taïa with The Bastion of Tears (Julliard), also selected by the Drouant Academicians, completes this club of six to four stars with Miguel Bonnefoy and his Dream of the Jaguar (Shore). All of them are therefore novelists and have also been selected by the Immortals.
The second distinguished novels
- Gail Faye – Jacaranda – Grasset (Goncourt, Renaudot, Femina, Academy)
- Joy Majdalani – Jessica alone in a room – Grasset (December)
- Hélène Giannecchini – An excessive desire for friendship – Le Seuil (December)
- Karim Kattan – Eden at dawn – Elyzad (Renaudot)
- Etienne Kern – The better life – Gallimard (Goncourt, Renaudot, Femina)
- Benjamin de Laforcade – Berlin for them – Gallimard (Renaudot, Femina)
- Shane Haddad – Love Gil – POL (Female, Medical)
- Guillaume Perilhou – The Serpent’s Crown – The Observatory (Femina)
- Madeleine Meteyer – Bourgeois obsessions – JC Lattès (Interallié)
- Abigail Assor – David’s Night – Gallimard (Academy)
In total, 21 of them were chosen by several juries. Unlike last year when there were six at this level, this year only four were selected in three lists: Olivier Norek with The Winter Warriors (Michel Lafon), Julia Deck and his Ann of England (Threshold), Etienne Kern pour The better life (Gallimar) and finally Abel Quentin who signed Hut (The Observatory).
The most selected authors
- Kamel Daoud with Houris (Gallimard) – (Goncourt, Renaudot, Interallié, Academy)
- Gail Faye with Jacaranda (Grasset) – (Goncourt, Renaudot, Femina, Academy)
- Thibault de Montaigu with Heart (Albin Michel) – (Goncourt, Renaudot, Interallié, Academy)
- Jean-Noël Orengo with You are the Führer’s unhappy love (Grasset) – (Goncourt, Renaudot, Interallié, Academy)
- Abdellah Taïa with The Bastion of Tears (Julliard) – (Goncourt, Medici, Interallié, Academy)
- Miguel Bonnefoy with The Jaguar’s Dream (Shore) – (Renaudot, Fémina, Medicis, Académie)
Independents in force
Concerning the publishing houses, it is once again Gallimard which presents the most works with eight titles in the running, like last year, followed by Grasset with five, then Albin Michel, POL and Le Seuil with four titles each.
The most represented houses
- Gallimard (Madrigall group) – 8 authors
- Grasset (Hachette group) – 5 authors
- Albin Michel (Huyghens of participations) – 4 authors
- POL (Madrigall group) – 4 authors
- The Threshold (Media-Participations group) – 4 authors
Behind these publishing houses, we find the main groups in the French publishing landscape. The Madrigall group, with Gallimard, POL, Minuit, Flammarion, Mialet-Barrault, La table rond and Verticales, dominates the first selections with 20 authors selected.
Read: The Autumn 2024 Grand Prix calendar
The Hachette group, with its houses Grasset, JC Lattès, Calmann-Lévy and Stock, places 10 authors in the different lists while Media-Participations by Le Seuil, L’Olivier and La Martinière places six authors and Editis with Cherche -Midi, Julliard and éditions du Sous-Sol have four.
The most prominent groups
- Madrigall (Gallimard, POL, Minuit, Flammarion, Verticales…) – 20 authors
- Hachette Book (Grasset, JC Lattès, Calmann-Lévy, Stock) – 10 authors
- Media-Participations (Le Seuil, L’Olivier, La Martinière) – 6 authors
- Published (Julliard, Cherche-Midi) – 4 authors
Note that the number of independent publishers presenting an author in these first selections jumped to 10 this year, compared to three last year.
Authors from selected independent publishers
- Olivier Norek, The Winter Warriors – Michel Lafon (Goncourt, Renaudot, Interallié)
- Béatrice Commengé, Never arrive – Verdier (December)
- Arnaud Guigue, I am the one you are looking for – Les Arènes (December)
- Laura Gauthier, Melusine reloaded – Corti (Medicis, December) / First novel
- Elisabeth Barrillé, Sisters and other living species – Arléa (Renaudot)
- Hubert Haddad, The Atlantic Symphony – Zulma (Renaudot)
- Karim Kattan, Eden at dawn – Elyzad (Renaudot) / Second Novel
- Gabriela Zalapì, Ilaria – Zoe (Medical, Female)
- Jennifer Richard, Infinite life – Philippe Rey (Physician)
- Cécile Wajsbrot, Full sky – The Sound of Time (Medicis)
In 2023, of the 59 authors competing in the first selections, six were awarded prizes by the juries, Kevin Lambert gleaning the Medicis and December prizes.
The first Grand Prize to be revealed will be that of the Roman of the Académie française, on October 24, under the dome. By then, the second selections will have been announced, shortening the list of contenders for this year.
Find all the selections in the dedicated file as well as all 59 titles and authors in the linked document to the left of the article.
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