Choix Goncourt in Ireland 2024 [fr]

The Choix Goncourt des étudiants d’Irlande took place at Trinity College Dublin on the 25th of April, 2024.

The event involved around 40 French-speaking students from seven Irish universities: Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, Dublin City University, University College Cork, University of Limerick, University of Galway, and Maynooth University.

Over the academic year, French-speaking students from all around Ireland, coordinated by the different universities’ French departments, gathered in reading groups to study the four books shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt 2023.

Participants first attended a workshop hosted by the Alliance Française Dublin’s French Library on literary analysis in French. Throughout the second semester, online inter-university meetings fostered lively discussions on each book. For the first time, participants in the Choix Goncourt des étudiants au Royaume-Uni took part in the four webinars organised in Ireland and the University of Bath moderated one of these four discussions. These workshops led to the in-person event chaired by DCU professor Jean-Philippe Imbert on April 25th, at Trinity College Dublin.

The deliberation brought together representatives from each university who presented their reading group’s opinion on each book. After two hours of discussion, "Triste Tigre" was almost unanimously chosen by the participants, proving its profound impact on literary sensibilities. To quote a student: "There is a before and an after to Triste Tigre".

All French departments participating in the event this year decided to be part of the Choix Goncourt in 2024-2025. The event’s success is attributed to the collaborative efforts of the Cultural Service of the French Embassy in Ireland, the Académie Goncourt, the Alliance Française in Dublin, and the French departments of Irish universities. Congratulations to all and see you next year for the Choix Goncourt des étudiants d’Irlande 2025!

The 4 novels selected for the Prix Goncourt 2023, read by the students of Ireland:
  Veiller sur elle, by Jean-Baptiste Andrea (L’Iconoclaste)
  Humus, by Gaspard Koenig (L’Observatoire)
  Triste Tigre, by Neige Sinno (P.O.L)
  Sarah, Susanne et l’écrivain, by Eric Reinhardt (Gallimard)

Le Prix Goncourt
The Prix Goncourt is a prestigious French competition that rewards the best contemporary book written in French and published by a francophone editor. It was created by the will of Edmond de Goncourt in 1892. The Société littéraire des Goncourt, known as the Académie Goncourt, was officially founded in 1902 and the first Goncourt Prize was proclaimed on 21 December 1903. Today, The Académie Goncourt is constituted by Didier Decoin (president), Françoise Chandernagor (vice-president), Pierre Assouline, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Pascal Bruckner, Philippe Claudel, Paule Constant, Camille Laurens, Christine Angot et Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt.

The international version of the Prix Goncourt: Le Choix Goncourt, a quality label for the francophone literature.
In 1998, the French Institute in Krakow, in agreement with the Académie Goncourt, organised the first "Choix Goncourt" abroad by bringing together the French departments of several Polish universities and proposing their students to read the four books of the Goncourt Prize organised the same year in France. This competition now takes place every year, and the book chosen by the student jury is translated into Polish. During the 2010s, this format has been adopted by several French Institutes and Posts in Europe, and the number of countries where Goncourt Choices are held has risen to 20 by 2020. The “Choix Goncourt” in Ireland was first organised in 2022.