Choix Goncourt Canada 2025: Gaël Faye’s Jacaranda
On Thursday, May 1st, 2025, the student representatives of the reading committees of 10 Canadian universities made their way to the Embassy of France. There, as members of the Choix Goncourt Canada selection panel, they awarded the 2025 Choix Goncourt Canada prize to Gaël Faye for his novel Jacaranda.
In total, the initiative brought together 70 students from the following universities:
- University of Ottawa
- Queen’s University
- University of New Brunswick
- University of British Columbia
- University of Calgary
- University of Alberta
- Toronto Metropolitan University
- McMaster University
- University of Saskatchewan
- University of Toronto
For this second edition, the university reading committees had 6 months to study and debate the 4 novels from the 2024 Prix Goncourt shortlist:
- Sandrine Collette’s Madeleine avant l’aube (JC Lattès)
- Kamel Daoud’s Houris (Gallimard)
- Gaël Faye’s Jacaranda (Grasset)
- Hélène Gaudy’s Archipels (L’Olivier)
This edition’s sponsoring author was French author Ève Guerra, winner of the 2024 Prix Goncourt for a first novel and the Prix Transfuge for best first novel (France) for Rapatriement (Grasset, 2024).
In parallel with the deliberations, the students had the opportunity to chat virtually with Philippe Claudel, President of the Académie Goncourt, about the origins of the Prix Goncourt and about what goes on behind the scenes. They also attended a lecture given by Ève Guerra at the University of Ottawa on Rapatriement and her relationship to writing.
