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| Prix Décembre | |
|---|---|
| Name | Prix Décembre |
| Awarded for | French-language literature |
| Country | France |
| First awarded | 1989 |
Prix Décembre
The Prix Décembre is a French literary award established in 1989 to recognize innovative and daring works written in French by authors and intellectuals associated with France, Belgium, Switzerland, Quebec, and other Francophone communities. Founded amid debates involving leading cultural figures and institutions, it quickly became associated with contrarian choices that intersect with the trajectories of Paris, Éditions Grasset, Gallimard, Éditions du Seuil, and influential critics from publications like Le Monde, Libération, and Le Figaro. The prize has at times paralleled or contrasted with awards such as the Prix Goncourt, Prix Renaudot, and Prix Femina.
The prize was created in 1989 by a group of cultural actors reacting to the dynamics around the Prix Goncourt and the cultural climate of the late 1980s in France, with early organizational links to figures from Éditions Gallimard and intellectual circles associated with Pierre Bergé and Bernard Pivot. Initial ceremonies and juries involved prominent writers and critics connected to institutions like Académie française and media outlets including France Culture and Le Nouvel Observateur. Over the 1990s and 2000s, the award’s trajectory intersected with the literary careers of authors published by houses such as Éditions Grasset, Actes Sud, Éditions Stock, and Éditions du Seuil, reflecting shifts in editorial policy and debates around postmodern and experimental literature championed by intellectuals like Roland Barthes (posthumously influential), Jean-François Lyotard, and contemporary critics writing for Télérama and Les Inrockuptibles.
Jury membership has traditionally drawn from novelists, essayists, critics, and publishers associated with major French cultural institutions such as Collège de France, École Normale Supérieure (Paris), and national broadcasters like Radio France. The jury evaluates works published in French by houses including Gallimard, Grasset, Seuil, Actes Sud, and Flammarion, often privileging originality over commercial success; similar tensions have featured in the deliberations of Prix Goncourt and Prix Medicis. The selection process unfolds through submission of eligible titles, longlist and shortlist deliberations, and a final vote during a meeting of jurors—practices comparable to those of the Man Booker Prize in the United Kingdom and the Pulitzer Prize in the United States insofar as juror independence and publicity management are concerned. Administrative oversight has varied, with sponsorship and hosting coordinated by foundations or private patrons linked to cultural actors like Pierre Bergé and media partners such as Radio France and Le Monde.
Recipients have included novelists, essayists, and public intellectuals whose books were published by prominent houses: winners associated with Éditions Gallimard and Éditions du Seuil have alternated with laureates from Actes Sud and Grasset. The roster of winners overlaps with authors who have also been recognized by the Prix Goncourt, Prix Medicis, the Prix Femina, and international awards like the Nobel Prize in Literature in broader career arcs. Laureates’ works often enter academic syllabi at institutions such as Sorbonne University, Université de Montréal, and Université de Lausanne, are reviewed in outlets like Le Monde and The New York Review of Books, and are translated by presses including Penguin Random House and Hachette Livre.
The prize’s history has featured disputes over choice of laureates, accusations of ideological bias tied to jurors connected with publications like Libération and Le Figaro, and high-profile refusals reminiscent of incidents involving the Prix Goncourt and the Nobel Prize in Literature. Public debates have involved personalities from the worlds of publishing and criticism such as editors at Éditions Gallimard, journalists from Le Monde, and cultural patrons like Pierre Bergé and members of the Académie Goncourt. Controversies sometimes spilled into French political discourse, with interventions or commentary by figures associated with Ministry of Culture (France) or senators and deputies attentive to cultural policy, echoing past tensions around cultural awards exemplified by disputes over the Prix Renaudot.
The award has shaped careers by boosting sales through coverage in media outlets including Le Monde, Libération, France Culture, and international reviews in The New York Times Book Review and The Guardian. Laureates often gain invitations to festivals and forums such as the Festival d'Avignon, Salon du Livre de Paris, Frankfurt Book Fair, and Edinburgh International Book Festival, and their works are discussed in academic journals published by presses like Presses Universitaires de France and Cambridge University Press. The prize has influenced editorial strategies at houses including Gallimard, Grasset, Actes Sud, Seuil, Flammarion, and Stock, and has affected translation flows between France, United Kingdom, United States, Spain, and Germany.
Organizationally, the prize has depended on a rotating jury and on funding models drawing from private patrons, publishing houses such as Gallimard and Grasset, and media partners including Le Monde and Radio France. The administrative secretariat has collaborated with cultural foundations and sometimes with institutions like Bibliothèque nationale de France for ceremonies or publicity. Sponsors over time reflected alliances with commercial groups such as Hachette Livre and philanthropic figures from the French cultural milieu, echoing sponsorship patterns seen with the Prix Goncourt and international prizes like the Man Booker Prize.
Category:French literary awards