the essential
Aveyron writer Olivier Norek has just been honored with the Jean Giono prize for his historical novel Les Guerriers de l'hiver, published in August. This captivating story explores Finnish resistance to the USSR in 1939-1940.
The author Olivier Norek, originally from Aubin in Aveyron, has just received the Jean Giono prize this Thursday, November 7, 2024 for his latest novel, “Les Guerriers de l'hiver”, published in August by Michel Lafon. This landmark work focuses on a little-explored episode of the Second World War: the heroic Finnish resistance to the Soviet invasion in 1939.
“It's a great honor. The Jean Giono prize is truly a literary prize which focuses on the narration of the novel, of history, which leaves room for the literary and the imaginary. This is the way of tell things. A war between Russia and Finland, almost a century ago, had to be told so that it could interest people in 2024. There is all this investigative work but also literature. which is rewarded, it’s a great honor for me,” explains Olivier Norek on the phone. “Especially since there are members of the jury like Paule Constant, director of the Goncourt prize, David Foenkinos, Franz-Olivier Giesbert, people whom I have admired in their work. I am really proud because it It was already very nice to be in the selections, but I didn't think that on my first lap I was going to win a prize.”
Many prizes
Recently crowned with the “Le Mans-Saint-Exupéry” prize, the author also attracted the attention of literary juries this season. “The Winter Warriors” was in the first selection for the prestigious Goncourt Prize and among the finalists for the Renaudot Prize, two of the most coveted distinctions of the literary autumn.
“This Jean Giono prize is in addition to the Saint-Exupéry prize. They are big names, it's a great source of pride. I was already proud to be in the first selection for the Prix Goncourt. We came close to the Renaudot at a close voice There was a little disappointment which quickly faded when we had this joy, this honor of receiving the Jean Giono prize”, confirms the author. “It’s a way of being dubbed by white literature. For an author of thrillers who is trying his hand at a historical novel for the first time and who confronts his pen with people who are used to great and beautiful texts , I feel really honored. It's also a source of pride not to have changed publishing house. Sisu (the courage and self-sacrifice of the Finnish soul, editor's note) is in the book as well as in the publishing house. edition, it’s great.”
