The prize is awarded to « The Night in the Heart » of Nathacha Appanah
BeirutThe novel« The Night in the Heart »of Nathacha Appanah (Editions Gallimard) was named winner of the Goncourt Choice of the East, edition 2025. Winner of the second round of elections with 16 votes out of 32, the author signs an intimate and political work that intertwines the trajectories of three women, including herself, facing domestic violence. Through this powerful narrative, she questions the mechanisms of male domination and the silences surrounding them.
This award was awarded by students participating in the Goncourt Choice of the East, a regional literary prize organized by the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) in the Middle East, in partnership with the Goncourt Academy and the French Institutes of Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Jerusalem (Palestine). For this 14th edition, 32 juries of students from 25 AUF member universities in 10 countries of the region, including Lebanon, read, analyzed and debated novels from the second selection of the prestigious Goncourt Prize. After several weeks of discussions and preparation under the direction of the jury president, novelist Salma Kojok, they met online for a discussion in camera, to nominate their winner.
Like the famous Goncourt Prize, the students, who became jurors for one day, debated with rigour, sensitivity and conviction to defend their winning novel.
This 14th edition of the Goncourt Choice of the East brought together juries from 10 countries in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, Djibouti, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Sudan), united by their commitment to Francophone literature.
The proclamation of the results took place in the presence of Philippe Claudel, president of the Goncourt Academy, who stressed the recognition of the Academy for the efforts made in this edition, « in this moment of tragedy in the Middle East ». He also recalled the importance of placing words and words at the heart of human beings, and of continuing to build links through literature, before greeting the students’ choices.
For his part, the Regional Director of the Middle East AUF, Jean-Noël Baléo, pointed out that, despite the abysmal and wartime context that has plagued the Middle East region for many months, the Goncourt Choice of the East has been more or less successful, its organization having been maintained again this year.
Words of congratulations and encouragement were also addressed to the participants by representatives of the French Institutes partners in the region, stressing the importance of this initiative for the promotion of the Francophonie and intercultural dialogue.
As usual, the winner will see his novel translated into Arabic with the support of the French Institute of Lebanon, and the activities accompanying the nomination of the Prize will continue throughout the year 2026.
About the « Goncourt Choice of the East » Award
TheGoncourt Choice of the East, an annual literary prize awarded to a literary work of the year written in French, is a declination of the prestigious French award. Organized by the Middle East Regional Directorate of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) in partnership with several French Institutes in the region and with the sponsorship of the Goncourt Academy, the prize, the only one to be regional and with as many participating countries, already has a history of 14 editions.
