The Young Take on Goncourt

What would literary life be without literary awards? No doubt it would be nicer, calmer – and duller. The Prix Goncourt is the most important award for fiction in France, issued for more than a hundred years now, since 1903. As the name indicates, it was started by French writer Edmond de Goncourt (1822–1896). Over the years, some of the most eminent French authors have won the award, such as Marcel Proust, Henry Troyat, Simone de Beauvoir, Romain Gary, Patrick Modiano, Marguerite Duras, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Andrei Makine, Pascal Quignard – to name but a few writers who have been translated into Estonian. Incidentally, in 2009 the Prix Goncourt was awarded to Jonathan Littell’s The Kindly Ones, which became one of the most important literary events in the past five years in Estonia when it was translated by Heli Allik. We are happy to invite some young French-speaking literature enthusiasts to come together at the festival and exchange views on the 2023 nominees for Prix Goncourt. It is worth noting that the process of choosing the winner is grand in a very educational way – the first round has 16 candidates, the second round has eight and the shortlist has four.