The Goncourt Prize

The Prix Goncourt goes to Kamel DAOUD.

Once again, the winner of the Goncourt Prize will be present at the Brive Book Fair from 8 to 10 November 2024, along with other finalists such as Gaël Faye (winner of the Renaudot Prize) and Sandrine Colette.

The most prestigious of all prizes, the Goncourt

The Prix Goncourt is France's oldest and best-known literary prize. It is awarded every year at the beginning of November by the Académie Goncourt after two pre-selections from the books published during the year. The prize was created to reward " the best work of prose imagination published during the year". It is awarded almost exclusively to a novel.

View of the hand of a lady leafing through a book

The Goncourt 2024

The Goncourt Prize was announced on 4 November at Drouant. The 2024 winner is writer Kamel DAOUD for his Houris (Gallimard) . His novel evokes the Algerian civil war, which pitted Islamist groups against the Algerian army from 1992 to 2002, killing between 60,000 and 200,000 people and leaving thousands more missing. Twenty years after the end of the fighting, the story now unfolds in two parts - from shadow to light, from silence to confrontation. First, there is the sombre, lyrical monologue of 26-year-old Aube, a scar in the shape of a smile around her neck, speaking to the child she is carrying in her womb. She says she won't give birth to him in this country that has taken everything from her. Then there is the soliloquy of a bookshop driver who makes her get into his car when she wanted to leave Oran on foot. In a memorable road trip, he takes Aube to the village where, one night, Islamists killed and slit throats.

Past winners

Over the last five years, the Goncourt Prize has been awarded to :

Leïla Slimani for Chanson douce in 2016.
Eric Vuillard for L'Ordre du Jour in 2017.
Nicolas Mathieu for Leurs enfants après eux in 2018.
Jean-Paul Dubois for Tous les hommes n'habitent pas dans le monde de la même façon in 2019
Hervé Le Tellier for his novel L'Anomalie in 2020.
Mohamed Mbougar Sarr for La plus secrète mémoire des hommes in 2021.
Brigitte Giraud for her work Vivre Vite in 2022.
Jean-Baptiste Andrea: Veiller sur elle. (Editions: L'Iconoclaste)

The Goncourt jury

The Académie Goncourt is made up of ten volunteer members appointed for life:

Didier Decoin, member since 1995.
Françoise Chandernagor, member since 1995.
Tahar Ben Jelloun, member since 2008.
Christine Angot
Pierre Assouline, member since 2012.
Philippe Claudel, member since 2012.
Paule Constant, member since 2013.
Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, member since 2016.
Pascal Bruckner, member since 2020.
Camille Laurens, member since 2020.