Goncourt Academy Announces Shortlist of Winners in Beirut

The Goncourt Prize jury in March 2020 at the Drouant
restaurant. Credit: Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP
The Goncourt Prize jury in March 2020 at the Drouant restaurant. Credit: Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP
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Goncourt Academy Announces Shortlist of Winners in Beirut

The Goncourt Prize jury in March 2020 at the Drouant
restaurant. Credit: Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP
The Goncourt Prize jury in March 2020 at the Drouant restaurant. Credit: Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP

At Beirut’s Pine Residence, the jury of the Goncourt literary prize has exceptionally announced the names of the four finalists in France's most prestigious literary prize. The name of the winner will be announced, as every year, at the Drouant restaurant in Paris on November 3.

Didier Decoin, president of the Académie Goncourt, announced the names of the 2022 finalists: Giuliano da Empoli for her book ‘Le Mage du Kremlin’ (Gallimard), Brigitte Giraud for ‘Vivre Vite’ (Flammarion), Cloé Korman for ‘Les Presque Sœurs’ (Seuil) and Makenzy Orcel for ‘Une Somme Humaine’ (Rivages). The ceremony was also attended by president Philippe Claudel, Camille Laurens, and Paule Constant.

This announcement in the Lebanese capital comes on the sidelines of the 1st edition of the “Beirut Books”- International and Francophone Book Festival.

Sponsored by France’s embassy in Beirut, the festival runs over 10 days in several Lebanese regions. This is the second time the Goncourt Academy announces its finalists list from Beirut, the first was in 2012.

Beirut Books, which hosts over 100 Francophone writers from around the world, witnessed some debate following a tweet by the Lebanese culture minister Mohammad Mortada, in which he said that Beirut will never be a route for normalization through writers partaking in a cultural event, without naming the writers or the nature of their activities.

The tweet was deleted shortly, but the debate continued between some who considered that the minister is distorting Lebanon’s reputation as the country of liberties, and others who assured that there is no room for tolerance with Israel or those who support it. However, some francophone writers didn’t wait for the end of the Lebanese debate and announced they are not willing to attend the festival because they don’t feel comfortable.

Among those are Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt, Pascal Bruckner, Pierre Assouline, and Tahar Ben Jelloun. When the jury members were asked about their colleagues’ decision not to attend, Decoin replied: “They said why they’re not coming and voiced their opinion about that. As for Pascal, he has a personal situation.”

Asked whether it’s because the freedom of expression, Philippe Claudel said: “The entire world has problems with the freedom of expression. Even the most democratic countries have some topics that cannot be discussed, taboos are everywhere. Even in the US, there are some terms that people cannot say. It’s a universal complication. Anyone can write whatever they want on social media, and do whatever they want, in one minute.”

“I won’t feel safe in this country where killing is so easy,” Tahar Ben Jelloun said after he announced he’s not going to attend the festival. It’s worth noting that Ben Jelloun was invited to many events in Lebanon in the past years but didn’t attend any.

The academy members who came to Beirut expressed their gratitude and joy for the hospitality and warmth they received, saying they are ready to return any time, and that they will visit different regions to meet the Lebanese people. They also said their work at the academy has went beyond reading books and selecting winners, to travelling, meeting with readers, and bringing books closer to people’s tastes, which is a very important task.

About the four winners, the jurors said they are thrilled with the results because the academy was always falsely accused of excluding women, non-French candidates, or small publishing houses.

Among this year’s winners are two women, and two men including and Italian and a Swiss. Last year, Senegalese novelist Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, and a small Senegalese publishing house won the prize.

According to the jury members, their selection was mainly based on the joy of reading and the quality, noting that they spent a lovely summer exchanging and discussing the novels. The winners were selected based on the majority of voices following democratic deliberations in a videocall that included all the jury members.



Swollen Rivers Flood Towns in US South after Dayslong Deluge of Rain

The rising waters of Cedar Creek and the Kentucky River overflow their banks, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Monterey, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The rising waters of Cedar Creek and the Kentucky River overflow their banks, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Monterey, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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Swollen Rivers Flood Towns in US South after Dayslong Deluge of Rain

The rising waters of Cedar Creek and the Kentucky River overflow their banks, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Monterey, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The rising waters of Cedar Creek and the Kentucky River overflow their banks, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Monterey, Ky. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Days of unrelenting heavy rain and storms that killed at least 18 people worsened flooding as some rivers rose to near-record levels and inundated towns across an already saturated US South and parts of the Midwest.

Cities ordered evacuations and rescue crews in inflatable boats checked on residents in Kentucky and Tennessee, while utilities shut off power and gas in a region stretching from Texas to Ohio.

“I think everybody was shocked at how quick (the river) actually did come up,” said salon owner Jessica Tuggle, who was watching Monday as murky brown water approached her business in Frankfort, Kentucky, the state capital along the swollen Kentucky River, The AP news reported.

She said that as each new wave of rain arrived over the weekend, anxious residents hoped for a reprieve so they could just figure out how bad things would get and how to prepare. She and friends packed up everything she could haul out of her salon, including styling chairs, hair products and electronics, and they took it all to a nearby tap house up the hill.

“Everybody was just ‘stop raining, stop raining’ so we could get an idea of what the worst situation would be,” she said.

Officials diverted traffic and turned off utilities to businesses in the city as the river was expected to approach a record crest on Monday.

For many, there was a sense of dread that the worst was still to come.

“As long as I’ve been alive — and I’m 52 — this is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said Wendy Quire, the general manager at the Brown Barrel restaurant downtown.

“The rain just won’t stop,” Quire said Sunday. “It’s been nonstop for days and days.”

Storms leaving devastating impact The 18 reported deaths since the storms began on Wednesday included 10 in Tennessee. A 9-year-old boy in Kentucky was caught up in floodwaters while walking to catch his school bus. A 5-year-old boy in Arkansas died after a tree fell on his family’s home, police said. A 16-year-old volunteer Missouri firefighter died in a crash while seeking to rescue people caught in the storm.

The National Weather Service warned Sunday that dozens of locations in multiple states were expected to reach a “major flood stage,” with extensive flooding of structures, roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure possible.

In north-central Kentucky, emergency officials ordered a mandatory evacuation for Falmouth and Butler, towns near the bend of the rising Licking River. Thirty years ago, the river reached a record 50 feet (15 meters), resulting in five deaths and 1,000 homes destroyed.

The storms come after the Trump administration cut jobs at NWS forecast offices, leaving half of them with vacancy rates of about 20%, or double the level of a decade ago.

Why so much nasty weather? Forecasters attributed the violent weather to warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, strong winds and abundant moisture streaming from the Gulf.

The NWS said 5.06 inches (nearly 13 centimeters) of rain fell Saturday in Jonesboro, Arkansas — making it the wettest day ever recorded in April in the city. Memphis, Tennessee, received 14 inches (35 centimeters) of rain from Wednesday to Sunday, the NWS said.

Rives, a northwestern Tennessee town of about 200 people, was almost entirely underwater after the Obion River overflowed.

Domanic Scott went to check on his father in Rives after not hearing from him in a house where water reached the doorstep.

“It’s the first house we’ve ever paid off. The insurance companies around here won’t give flood insurance to anyone who lives in Rives because we’re too close to the river and the levees. So if we lose it, we’re kind of screwed without a house,” Scott said.

In Dyersburg, Tennessee, dozens of people arrived over the weekend at a storm shelter near a public school clutching blankets, pillows and other necessities. Just days earlier the city was hit by a tornado that caused millions of dollars in damage.

For some, grabbing the essentials also meant taking a closer look at the liquor cabinet.

In Frankfort, with water rising up to his window sills, resident Bill Jones fled his home in a boat, which he loaded with several boxes of bottles of bourbon.