The 2025 edition broke a record with 66 works in competition, including 7 which have a link with Aveyron. The first selection is set for Tuesday January 14, with a trophy presentation Tuesday April 1.
Sixty-six works received! Chaired by Aveyron native Isabelle Cazals and spanning nine departments (Lot, Allier, Cantal, Lozère, Haute-Loire, Puy de Dôme, Corrèze, Creuse and Aveyron), the Auvergne and Massif Central League broke a record for the vintage 2025 Arverne Prize.
“Created in 2007, it is therefore gaining momentum and notoriety,” enthuses Josyane Delmas-Bouchard, president of the jury. The principle is very simple. This prize is awarded to a literary publication (local, detective or historical novels, essay, short story, biography, poetry, monograph, comic strip, art book, etc.) published during the previous year, fulfilling one of the two conditions: be written by a native of one of the nine departments attached to the Auvergne League, or dealing with a subject concerning Auvergne or one of the nine departments.
Among the class of 2025, there are seven candidates with a link to Aveyron: Sylvie Gracia with “Nous n’étés pas des cœurs” (L’Iconoclaste), Daniel Crozes with “The Devil’s Woman” (Le Rouergue), Michel Trigosse with “Laguiolaises: history of the Astruc girls and some other remarkable women of Laguiole in the 19th century” (Bookelis), Benoît Boutefeu with “Dans les bois noirs” (B&W editions), Olivier Norek with “The Winter Warriors” (Michel Lafon), Daphné Tamage with “The Return of Saturn” (Stock) and Dominique Auzel with “Workers, artisans of beauty according to Caillebotte (Ateliers Henry Dougier) .
The jury will meet this Tuesday, January 14 in the evening, to go from 66 to 6 contenders for victory and the winner will be known on March 11. The delivery is planned for April 1 at Solférino, in Paris, in the 7th arrondissement.
Delphine Laurent speaks of “great literary recognition”
Winner of the 2024 edition, with her work entitled “Naisseur”, published by Albin Michel, Delphine Laurent is rave about the initiative of the Auvergne League and the Massif Central: “While my editor was very surprised by the welcome When the prize was awarded, I was touched by the sincerity of the organizers.” And to rejoice in the months that followed this ceremony in Paris: “We kept in touch. They brought my book to life and I brought the prize to life!”
And added: “If this prize has long intrigued booksellers, because it was recognized but not very well known, it is now welcomed by publishing houses.” Delphine Laurent also makes no secret of the fact that this award brought her “a big spotlight”.
She explains: “It’s a great literary recognition. Especially since I am a breeder, coming from a background that has no place in the world of literature. Thanks to the Arverne Prize, sales have been boosted the weeks that followed, and I made more signatures, in Aveyron but also beyond the borders of the department.
La Laissagaise concludes “It’s a small victory, or rather a personal revenge. I’m very proud of it.” She therefore crosses her fingers that her next work follows the same trajectory. For the moment, it is in gestation: “I am working on writing. I am knitting and unknitting…”.
