Goncourt 2024: Sandrine Collette, Maylis de Kerangal, Gaël Faye… Eight authors still in the running

Who will succeed Jean-Baptiste Andrea and his masterful “Veiller sur elle”? This is becoming clearer. There were sixteen on the starting line to compete for the most prestigious literary prize and this Tuesday, October 1, the Goncourt Academy revealed the names of the eight selected for the second round. Three women, five men. Evidence and disappointments.

At Le Parisien, we don’t shy away from our pleasure. Several of our favorites from the literary season are still in the running, starting with our favorite Sandrine Collette and her sublime “Madelaine avant l’aube” at JC Lattès. A flawless journey for this author who started out in crime fiction. Her sales continue to increase with each new novel, the reviews for her latest are excellent and, on the reference site for books, Babelio (more than 950,000 users), she obtains a reader rating of 4.26 out of 5!

The winner announced on November 4

Among our favorites, another woman, Maylis de Kerangal, with the very beautiful “Jour de ressac” (Verticales) and Philippe Jaenada for “La casualness est une bien belle chose” (Mialet-Barrault), a fascinating investigation into the Saint-Germain -des-Prés from the 1950s. Unsurprisingly, we also find Gaël Faye and “Jacaranda” (Grasset), a moving and very personal book on the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda. A very big success in bookstores since it has just passed the milestone of 100,000 copies. Kamel Daoud with his “Houris” (Gallimard), a poignant historical story, is also one of the lucky ones.

We will regret the absence of Olivier Norek, also an author of thrillers. The ex-cop amazed us with his incredible “Winter Warriors”, garnered very good reviews and sales of more than 43,000 copies. Even if he does not pass the second round, he remains the surprise of Goncourt 2024 since thanks to him, for the first time, Michel Lafon editions found themselves in the running for the most coveted literary prize.

A selection which was perhaps not to the taste of the German-speaking community. In Nancy, at the end of September, during the high mass of publishing, Olivier Norek’s editor, Elsa Lafon, was not entitled to the honors of the official table… We would also have liked Carole Martinez, author of “Sleep your brute sleep” (Gallimard), also among the eight.

The list of the final four finalists will be revealed on October 22 before the proclamation of the 122nd Goncourt Prize, on November 4 at 1 p.m., at the Parisian restaurant Chez Drouant (IIe).