“The Prix Goncourt has remained a benchmark of literary quality.” Denisa Comanescu

Pe October 22of the ora 12.30, Academia Goncourt will make an announcement related to this year’s edition of the most important French literary prize from Bucharest: Prix ​​Goncourt / The Goncourt Prize. After organizing the last judging session, they will communicate for the first time, through a press conference at which journalists from France announced their presence, the names of the books from the third selection stage – the four finalist novels, who will compete to win the Prix Goncourt in 2024.cThis is the third occasion in the 121-year history of the Prix Goncourt that members of the Académie Goncourt have made this announcement from a location other than Paris.

At tomorrow’s event, along with the members of the Goncourt Academy, will also be present: His Excellency Mr. Nicolas Warnerythe Ambassador of France in Romania, Eva Nguyen Binh – executive president of the French Institute in Paris, Julien Chiappone-Lucchesi – the director of the French Institute in Romania.

While waiting for the event, which will take place at the headquarters in Amzei al National Museum of Romanian Literature (str. Nicolae Crețulescu no. 8), the Romanian publishers sent several messages related to the importance of the Goncourt Prize in the development of the Romanian book market after 1989.

Denisa Comanescuthe general manager of Publisher Humanity Fictionhis Romanian publisher Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt and other important French authors, she confessed to us what this French literary distinction meant to her, both as a reader and editor, today, but also in the years before the Revolution: “During the late Ceausian years, literary values ​​such as Baudelaire and Proust, but also the Prix Goncourt each year meant France. I identify the Goncourt Prize with France. After we gained freedom of travel and access to information, the Prix Goncourt remained a benchmark of literary quality. What I learned in addition is the fact that the award as such should not always take our eyes, it is important to widen its sphere of brilliance to include the novels from the selections and, especially, from the final selection. Because sometimes there is a surprise that in the final list of the Goncourt there is a stronger novel than the awarded one”.

Magdalena Mărculescu is the editorial director of The TREI Editorial Groupwhere half of the books awarded with the Prix Goncourt of the last five years have appeared in translation and where, in a few weeks, the novel awarded with this prestigious award will be published in 2023 (Watch over her of Jean-Baptiste Andréa – Ed de l’Iconoclaste; edition in Romanian: Always thinking of hertranslated by Mihaela Stan). She gave some testimonies about this special interest she has as an editor for literature from the French cultural space: “I personally became a francophone first and only then an editor. So since I have been in this position I have prioritized French authors. When the Goncourt Prize came to crown the value of fabulous authors like Marie Ndiaye or Leïla Slimani, of incomparable writers like Pierre Lemaître or Jérôme Ferrari, I felt, along with the entire editorial team, part of a beautiful present full of meaning, which would surely become “history”.

Since 2020, the Goncourt prize has “made a common home” with Trei Publishing House / Pandora M: Hervé le Tellier, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, Brigitte Giraud, Jean-Baptiste Andrea, these are the laureates of this most important French literary prize in recent years, on you can find all these authors with us.

For me, French literature is a “matter of the soul”, and in the publishing industry the choices you make with your soul will always be the best”.

Dan Tailor of the Polirom Publishing Housethe coordinator of “Bibliotecii Polirom”, the collection that published it in Romanian translation on Philippe Claudelpresident of the Académie Goncourt, shared some thoughts on the importance of tomorrow’s event: “I’m thinking now rather of having in Bucharest, thanks to the French Institute, some of the most important contemporary French writers, members of the jury that awards the Goncourt Prize, to announce the books selected in the final round. It seems to me a gesture that particularly honors the efforts of Romanian publishing houses to make contemporary French literature known to Romanian readers”.

Bogdan-Alexandru Stanescuthe coordinator of the latest editorial project dedicated to translations from universal literature on the domestic book market – Anansi. World Fiction from Grupo Editorial Trei –, the publisher of the 2021 and 2020 Goncourt laureates (Mohamed Mbougar Sarrrespectively Hervé Le Tellier), he also pointed out the importance of the award in his professional activity: “The Goncourt Award represents, year after year, a landmark for the publishing market in Romania: in a profession that is increasingly taking on the aspect of industry, the Goncourt comes to remind us that, beyond money, enormous circulations and editorial soap bubbles, we continue to work with the most beautiful invention of the human being – literature. It is, for me, along with the Booker International, the most credible literary prize and a constant measure of the evolution of French literature in the contemporary literary space”.

He also spoke about the honor of having Goncourt Award-winning books in his portfolio Ana Maria Manolescupublishers Restlessnessthe publishing house that published it in translation on Mathias Énardthe 2015 laureate, as well as other French authors who have received this literary distinction: „It is an honor for any publishing house to have a laureate of the Prix Goncourt in its portfolio, given the history of this prestigious literary award and the names of those with whom it has been associated since 1903. An award all the more important, since it is not awarded to the same author than only once in a lifetime (except in the famous case of Romain Gary). The Nemira publishing house is proud to have in its portfolio two winners of the award given annually to the most imaginative work written in French: Tahar Ben Jelloun and Mathias Énard, two authors who surprise their readers with each new editorial appearance”.

from Republic of Moldova, Gheorghe Erizanothe director Cartier Publishing Housethe publishing house where Marcel Proust’s masterpiece recently appeared in a new translation, In search of lost timegave us an insight into how he follows the stages of the Prix Goncourt year after year: “The Romanian book market seems anemic or was anemic at the Goncourt awards. Probably also because of the history of literary awards in Romania and the Republic of Moldova. The institution of the Romanian literary awards is in its infancy. The stake of our prizes was different. And the Romanian mass media, many times, did not even consider that the awards deserved to be in their news bulletin.

In France the Goncourt Prize, which financially has a symbolic amount, means sales of hundreds of thousands of copies. The French media have their eyes on the prize. Goncourt appeared as a reaction to the French Academy Award. As a reaction to the Goncourt Prize, the Femina Prize appeared. They are awards that created the value system of French literature from the 20th-21st centuries. More recently, the Goncourt Prize is also very diverse in its selection. Possibly as a reaction to Gallimard’s former dominance. Of the eight semi-finalists, only Grasset is nominated twice.”

Mircea Vasilescuwriter, essayist, publicist, coordinator The “Theory and Practice of Editing” Master’s from the Faculty of Letters of the University of Bucharest, also noted the importance not only of the Goncourt Prize, but also of the event in Bucharest: “I first heard about the Goncourt Prize when I was a high school student, in the 1970s, from my French teacher. Now, it’s the subject of a case study in the master’s courses I teach future editors. All this time, I waited year after year, with passion, for the traditional ritual of announcements – a true landmark for world literature. It seems fabulous to me that this year the list of finalist books is announced in Bucharest”.

Ioan Cristescuthe director National Museum of Romanian Literaturethe institution that hosts the event through which the names of the finalist novels in this year’s edition of the Goncourt Prize are publicly announced for the first time, wanted to note the importance of the event, both from a professional and intimate perspective, as a lover of literature: “I don’t think there is a reader who is passionate about literature who doesn’t follow the novels nominated or awarded with the Goncourt Prize every year, just as I don’t think there is a cultural manager who isn’t fascinated by the whole process of this prize, with all the ritualistic moments that the Académie Goncourt build around books.

I am also a passionate reader of literature, with a particular affinity for French literature, but also the coordinator of an important institution that runs projects dedicated to writers and books. So I can only confess that it is a joy to host at the headquarters of the National Museum of Romanian Literature a page that is being written in the history of the most important literary award in Hexagon. The joy is all the greater because this year, the French Institute, the organizer of the event and one of our reliable partners, is celebrating 100 years since its foundation – we are happy to be partners in this anniversary moment”.

Prix ​​Goncourt / The Goncourt Prize it is the oldest and most important literary award in France, a landmark in the international world of books and one of the few literary distinctions that have the power to change the life of a book. It is awarded by the Goncourt Academy, the first edition of the competition taking place 121 years ago, in 1903.