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Académie française Grand Prix du roman 2026

This dossier follows the award of the Académie française’s 2026 Grand Prix du roman.

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Where things stand

On 29 October 2026, Sébastien Lapaque won for Le Rappel des oiseaux.

Sébastien Lapaque wins Académie française novel prize

The Académie française awarded its Grand Prix du roman to Sébastien Lapaque on 29 October 2026 for Le Rappel des oiseaux, published by Actes Sud.

Sébastien Lapaque at the Paris Book Fair in March 2010. Archive photograph.
Sébastien Lapaque at the Paris Book Fair in March 2010. Archive photograph. — Pyerre / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ ; 28 mars 2010, sans modification.

The writer received eight votes in the third ballot, against seven for Yannick Haenel and three for Marie Petitcuénot. The award carries €10,000, according to the Académie.

The winning novel follows in the footsteps of Francis of Assisi. Lapaque, also a literary critic at Le Figaro, won the Renaudot essay prize in 2024 for Échec et mat au paradis.

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