Femina Prize Selection: Nathacha Appanah and Laurent Mauvignier on the first list

The novels of Nathacha Appanah and Laurent Mauvignier, among the stars of the literary season, are included in the first selection of the Prix Femina, unveiled Tuesday, September 9 by the jury. This first selection includes 16 French titles and 16 foreign titles.

The Prix Femina, in the French novel, foreign novel, and essay categories, is to be awarded on November 3, the day before the Prix Goncourt and Prix Renaudot. Before that, the 12-member, all-female jury is to announce a second selection on September 30 and a third in October.

Nathacha Appanah has also been selected for the Goncourt and Renaudot awards with "La nuit au cœur" (Gallimard). Laurent Mauvignier has already been awarded the Prix littéraire du Monde for "La maison vide" (Minuit).

The selection of foreign novels includes "The Strange Tumult of Our Lives" (Bourgois) by Claire Messud, the story of a French family during the colonial era in Algeria, as well as "The Madman of God at the End of the World" (Actes Sud), in which Javier Cercas recounts a trip with Pope Francis to Mongolia.

Jakuta Alikavazovic, “Forever” (Gallimard)

Nathacha Appanah, “Night in the Heart” (Gallimard)

Lucie-Anne Belgy, “It’s raining on the parade” (Gallimard)

Lise Charles, “Paranoia” (POL)

Sarah Chiche, “To Love” (Julliard)

Lionel Duroy, “An irreparable evil” (Mialet-Barrault)

Sarah Gysler, “Take Me” (Ecuador)

Joseph Incardona, “The world is tired” (Finitudes)

Laurent Mauvignier, “The Empty House” (Midnight)

Anthony Passeron, “Jacky” (Grasset)

Alexandre Postel, “All ears” (L'Observatoire)

Victor Pouchet, “Voyage voyage” (Gallimard)

Maria Pourchet, “Fall” (Stock)

Marie Richeux, “Radio Officer” (Sabine Wespieser)

Anne Serre, “Virtue and Rosalind” (Mercure de France)

David Thomas, “A Brother” (L'Olivier)

Foreign novels:

Nina Allan, “Good Neighbors” (Tristram)

John Boyne, “The Elements” (Lattès)

Natasha Brown, “The Universalists” (Grasset)

Javier Cercas, “God’s Madman at the End of the World” (Actes Sud)

Carys Davies, “Lightning” (Round Table)

Jenny Erpenbeck, “Kairos” (Gallimard)

Alexandra Fuller, “Like Staring at the Sun” (Plon)

Jens C. Grondahl, “At the Bottom of Years Gone By” (Gallimard)

Paul Harding, “This Other Eden” (Buchet-Chastel)

Claire Messud, “The strange tumult of our lives” (Bourgois)

Sigrid Nunez, “The Vulnerable” (Stock)

Andrew O'Hagan, “Caledonian Road” (Metalized)

Adam Rapp, “At the Wolves’ Table” (Seuil)

Jess Row, “A New World” (Albin Michel)

Elif Shafak, “The Rivers of Heaven” (Flammarion)

Irene Vallejo, “Carthage” (Albin Michel)