The Renaudot jury, which awards its prestigious literary prize every year, met on May 16 at Drouant in Paris. He did not talk about the prize he will present in November, but about the replacement of one of its members, Christian Giudicelli, who died on May 14, a year ago.
Mohammed Aïssaoui, author of L'Affaire de l'esclave Furcy, (Renaudot essay prize, 2010), also a journalist at Le Figaro littéraire, was elected by a vote of the jurors. "I'm very happy," he told us, "because the members of this jury are great feathers." These include Le Clézio (Nobel Prize for Literature 2008), Dominique Bona, Franz-Olivier Giesbert, Frédéric Beigbeder... And to add: "I want to promote a literature demanding both in substance and in form."
He therefore joins a renewed jury. Before him, Stéphanie Janicot and the novelist Cécile Guilbert joined the Renaudot, while Jérôme Garcin, resigned the day after the Matzneff affair, and Louis Gardel, 81, became the dean of the prize, had decided to leave.
Mohammed Aïssaoui is the author of six books, including five novels, the last Les Funambules, (Gallimard), was in the running for the Goncourt 2020. Also a journalist, he first worked in the economics department of Le Figaro, before joining its Literary supplement in 2004.