who, among these fifteen authors, will succeed Mohamed Mbougar Sarr?

Like every year, the jurors of the most prestigious French literary prize met at the Drouant restaurant, under the chairmanship of Didier Decoin, to draw up their first list. They selected fifteen novels, one less than last year.

On the publishing side, Gallimard is doing well with three “nominations” (Giuliano da Empoli, Carole Fives, Monica Sabolo), then Flammarion and Stock, who each have two novelists in the running, respectively Grégoire Bouillier, Brigitte Giraud and Sabyl Ghoussoub, Emmanuel Ruben. We note the return of the Actes Sud editions, absent from the Goncourt list of last year, with Muriel Barbery. Note that Grasset is absent from this first selection.

Note also that this selection includes confirmed authors and a few surprises, in particular Sarah Jollien-Fardel. The first novelist is already in the last selection of the Roman Fnac prize.

So who will succeed Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, 2021 winner with The most secret memory of men, a novel published by Philippe Rey? The second list of the Goncourt Prize is scheduled for October 4.

The full list:

Muriel Barbery, An hour of fervor, Actes Sud

Grégoire Bouillier, The heart does not yield, Flammarion

Nathan Devers, Artificial links, Albin Michel

Giuliano da Empoli, The Magus of the Kremlin, Gallimard

Carole Fives, Something to tell you, Gallimard

Sabyl Ghoussoub, Beirut-sur-Seine, Stock

Brigitte Giraud, Live fast, Flammarion

Sarah Jollien-Fardel, Her favourite, Sabine Wespieser

Cloé Korman, Almost Sisters, Seuil

Makenzy Orcel, A human sum, Shores

Yves Ravey, Taormina, Editions de Minuit

Pascale Robert-Diard, The Little Liar, The Iconoclast

Emmanuel Ruben, The Mediterranean, Stock

Monica Sabolo, The Clandestine Life, Gallimard

Anne Serre, Our dear old lady author, Mercure de France