Kevin Lambert and his novel May our joy remain were selected among the eight finalists for the Medici Prize.
Other finalists for the prize this year also include the novel Sarah, Susanne and the writer, by Éric Reinhardt (Gallimard), as well as sad tigerfrom Neige Sinno (POL).
This is not the first time that a novel by Kevin Lambert has been noticed by the Medici jury: You’ll love what you killed was among the finalists in 2021, and Roberval Quarrelin the first selection of the prize in 2019.
The writer is also one of the four finalists for the December prize, which will be awarded on October 31 in Paris. He was also selected in the first Goncourt list at the beginning of September, but was not included in the second list. He is still in the running for the Goncourt for high school students.
May our joy remain recounts the turmoil into which an internationally renowned architect finds herself, accused of accelerating the gentrification of neighborhoods. This third title by the author has caused a lot of ink to flow over the months, finding itself at the heart of a controversy involving François Legault last summer. The Prime Minister earned harsh criticism from Kevin Lambert after complimenting him on his book.
Then, at the beginning of September, Kevin Lambert was again at the center of a controversy after his selection at Goncourt, criticized this time by the French writer and Goncourt 2018 Nicolas Mathieu who criticized him for having used a sensitive reader in the process of rereading his novel.
The winners of the three categories of the Médicis Prize will be revealed on November 9, in Paris.
Final selections for the 2023 Medici Prize
French-speaking novel finalists:
- Dominique Barbéris, A way of loving (Gallimard)
- Salma El Moumni, Farewell Tangier (Grasset)
- Kevin Lambert, May our joy remain (The New Attila)
- Lisette LombéEunice (Threshold)
- Richard Morgiève, Mothers Day (Joëlle Losfeld)
- Eric Reinhardt, Sarah, Susanne and the writer (Gallimard)
- Snow Sinno, sad tiger (POL)
- Elisa Shua Dusapin, The Old Fire (Zoe)
Foreign novel finalists:
- Nina Allan, Conquest, translated from English (UK) by Bernard Sigaud (Tristram)
- Hila Blum, How to love your daughter, translated from Hebrew by Valérie Zenatti (Robert Laffont)
- David Grann, The Wager Shipwreckstranslated from English (United States) by Johan-Frédérik Hel Guedj (Éditions du sous-sol)
- Lidia Jorge, Misericordia, translated from Portuguese by Elisabeth Monteiro Rodrigues (Métailié)
- Han Kang, Impossible goodbyestranslated from Korean (South Korea) by Kyungran Choi and Pierre Bisiou (Grasset)
- László Krasznahorkai, Baron Wenckheim is back, translated from Hungarian by Joëlle Dufeuilly (Cambourakis)
- Kim from L’Horizon, Copper beech, translated from German (Switzerland) by Rose Labourie (Julliard)
- Robert Seethaler, The Nameless Cafétranslated from German (Austria) by Elisabeth Landes and Herbert Wolf (Sabine Wespieser)
- Chris de Stoop, The Book of Daniel, translated from Dutch (Belgium) by Anne-Laure Vignaux (Globe)
Trial finalists:
- Daniel Andler, Artificial intelligence, human intelligence. The double enigma (Gallimard)
- Nathacha Appanah, Washed Memory (Mercury of France)
- Robert Bober, There are still people passing by in the street. (POL)
- Benoît Chantre, René Girard. Biography (Grasset)
- Ariane CheminDon’t wake the children (Basement Editions)
- Marie Favereau, The horde. How the Mongols changed the world (Perrin)
- Hélène Frappat, Gaslighting or the Art of Silencing Women (The Observatory)
- Anouche Kunth, On the verge of erasure. In the footsteps of Armenian exiles between the wars (Discovery)
- Valérie Mréjen, The Young Artist (POL)
- Laure Murat, Proust, family novel (Robert Laffont)
- Nathalie Piégay, 3 Nanas. Saint Phalle, Bourgeois, Messenger (Threshold)
- Judith Schalansky, Inventory of lost things, translated from German by Lucy Lamy (Ypsilon)
- Camille of ToledoA history of vertigo (Verdier)