The Goncourt of high school students will reveal its winner this Thursday in Rennes. Five authors, including Olivier Norek, remain in competition after months of readings and deliberations. This event has been promoting contemporary literature to young readers since 1988.
Five authors, including Olivier Norek, famous for his thrillers, remain in the running for the Goncourt des lycéens which will be awarded this Thursday, November 28 in Rennes, according to the organizers’ announcement on Monday. The finalists are Sandrine Collette (Madelaine before DawnJC Lattès), Rebecca Lighieri (The Lost Children’s ClubPOL), Thibault de Montaigu (HeartAlbin Michel), Abdellah Taïa (The Bastion of TearsJulliard) and Olivier Norek, who abandoned his usual register for Winter Warriors (Michel Lafon editions).
“After more than two months of diligent reading of the 14 novels preselected by the Académie Goncourt, the high school students delegates from each region deliberated behind closed doors,” specifies a press release from the organizers.
Thirteen delegates, chosen after regional deliberations in six cities: Lyon, Metz, Poitiers, Nîmes, Paris and Rennes, will meet Thursday morning in the Breton capital for the “great national deliberation”, according to the same source.
The winner will be announced at 1:10 p.m. at Rennes town hall, followed by the official presentation of the prize in the early evening at the Ministry of National Education in Paris.
The high school students’ Goncourt is particularly influential in terms of sales, with some winners reaching several hundred thousand copies sold.
Created in Rennes in 1988, this “little brother” of Goncourt for adults is organized by Fnac and the Ministry of National Education. Its aim is to introduce young people to contemporary literature and encourage their taste for reading.
In 2023, the prize was awarded to Neige Sinno for sad tiger (POL), while in 2022, Sabyl Ghoussoub won the prize with Beirut-sur-Seine (Stock).
With AFP
