Chloé Delaume awarded the Medici Prize for French novel

Chloé Delaume, here on the set of “La grande librairie” in France in 2012, won the 2020 Medici Prize for the French novel -

Chloé Delaume won the Médicis prize for the French novel for

(Seuil), awarded while other juries have chosen to wait for the reopening of bookstores, announced on Friday the president of the jury Marie Darrieussecq.

“I didn't dare believe it.

There were ten of us and there were very, very serious competitors, ”said the winner on France Inter.

"This book is a culmination, also with a certain lightness, which is not the case in all of her books", commented Marie Darrieussecq.

Antonio Muñoz Molina, Medici Prize for Foreign Novel

The Synthetic Heart

tells the story of a press officer in publishing, divorced without children, who at the approach of her 50 years is struggling to find a meaning in her life and a man who suits her.

"It is because it has aged so much, the Heart of Adelaide.

He accepts reality, he knows how to protect himself.

He doesn't want to bleed anymore, still prefers empty.

The Heart of Adelaide would like to be embalmed, ”writes the 47-year-old novelist.

The Medici Prize for Foreign Novels went to Antonio Muñoz Molina for “A Solitary Walker in the Crowd” (Threshold).

This 64-year-old Spaniard published in 2018 this stroll in the metropolises where he lived, Madrid, Lisbon, Paris and New York, and where he reflects on the beauty of the world, that of artists, and its ugliness, that of the capitalists. .

“It is a reverie that will allow us in these times of confinement to walk in cities and in dreams,” said Marie Darrieussecq.

The price of the essay for the Norwegian Karl Ove Knausgaard

Finally, the prize for the essay was awarded to the Norwegian Karl Ove Knausgaard, 52, for

(Denoël), the sixth and last part of his autobiographical cycle

.

This 1,400-page book looks back on the start in 2009 of the publication of the great work of a very controversial author, who suddenly became a star.

He is confronted with the wrath of his father.

“It was for this purpose, to become rich, that I exhibited my own family in the public square.

Publishing such a book was resolutely unacceptable, because it was untrue and infringed on respect for private life, ”recalls the novelist.

Like Femina, the Medici has indicated that it wants to continue to bring the news of the book to life.

"The Prix Médicis made the bet that its readers, lovers of demanding literature, will choose their bookseller by 'reservation and withdrawal' rather than Amazon, while waiting for the total reopening of booksellers," wrote Marie Darrieussecq in a communicated.

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