Didier Decoin succeeds Bernard Pivot at the head of the Goncourt Academy

It is the beginning of a new era at the Goncourt Academy. Gathered this Monday at the Drouant restaurant in Paris, the jurors of the literary institution designated one of their secret ballots to be their new president, after the resignation last December of Bernard Pivot. It was the novelist Didier Decoin, 74, who was elected.

This member of the academy since 1995 was one of the favorites. As secretary general, he was particularly responsible for announcing the name of the winner of the Goncourt each fall. Son of filmmaker Henri Decoin, he himself won an award in 1977 for John the Hell .

Didier Decoin succeeds Bernard Pivot at the head of the Goncourt academy pic.twitter.com/gG8i9YMBcX

The academy has "ten place settings", but only eight jurors were present. Indeed, in December, it was first Bernard Pivot, 84, who left. The former president of the academy from 2014 to 2019 announced that he wanted "to find free and full use of his time". The novelist Virginie Despentes resigned in early January to "devote herself fully to writing". They therefore did not take part in the vote.

Bernard Pivot when he left, with Françoise Chandernagor, Virginie Despentes, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Pierre Assouline, Patrick Rambaud, Paule Constant, Philippe Claudel and Didier Decoin. - DECOIN BENJAMIN / SIPA

Passionate about news

First a press reporter for France Soir , Didier Decoin has collaborated with several newspapers, such as Le Figaro and Les Nouvelles littéraires . This enthusiast of various facts participated in the creation of the magazine VSD and worked on Europe 1. Keen on navigation, he was a columnist for a long time in the review Neptune Motor . He recently published The Office of Gardens and Ponds (Stock, 2017), which allowed him to receive a Bad Sex Award, saluting the worst sex scene in a novel.

Screenwriter for the cinema, he worked for directors like Marcel Carné, Robert Enrico or Henri Verneuil. However, most of his activities are devoted to television: in 1999 he received the Sept d'Or for the best screenplay for Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (television mini-series broadcast in 1998). Her son Julien Decoin is also a writer. Once their president has been appointed, the Goncourt jurors must, in the coming weeks, choose the two covers that are missing. The Goncourt 2020 prize will be awarded in early November.

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