Every Prix Goncourt winner, 1903–2026

The Prix Goncourt has gone to 124 books since 1903. The Académie Goncourt gives it each year for a prose work in French, usually a novel. An author can win it only once. The latest winner is L'Inconnue du quai de Javel by Philippe Jaenada (2026). Of the 29 winners on ReadingRate, the most readable is The Rock of Tanios by Amin Maalouf (difficulty 36/100, about 4.4 hours); the hardest is Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau (73/100). The quickest of them to finish is The Order of the Day by Éric Vuillard, at about 1.7 hours.

How book difficulty is measured

2026

• L'Inconnue du quai de Javel by Philippe Jaenada

2025

• La Maison vide by Laurent Mauvignier

2024

• Houris by Kamel Daoud — difficulty 55/100, about 8 hours

2023

• Watching Over Her (Veiller sur elle) by Jean-Baptiste Andrea — difficulty 57/100, about 8.9 hours

2022

• Live Fast (Vivre vite) by Brigitte Giraud — difficulty 54/100, about 2.4 hours

2021

• The Most Secret Memory of Men (La Plus secrète mémoire des hommes) by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr — difficulty 70/100, about 13 hours

2020

• The Anomaly (L'Anomalie) by Hervé Le Tellier — difficulty 59/100, about 8.2 hours

2019

• Not Everybody Lives the Same Way (Tous les hommes n'habitent pas le monde de la même façon) by Jean-Paul Dubois

2018

• And Their Children After Them (Leurs enfants après eux) by Nicolas Mathieu

2017

• The Order of the Day (L'Ordre du jour) by Éric Vuillard — difficulty 56/100, about 1.7 hours

2016

• Lullaby (Chanson douce) by Leïla Slimani

2015

• Compass (Boussole) by Mathias Énard — difficulty 61/100, about 9.3 hours

2014

• Cry, Mother Spain (Pas pleurer) by Lydie Salvayre — difficulty 56/100, about 4.1 hours

2013

• The Great Swindle (Au revoir là-haut) by Pierre Lemaitre

2012

• The Sermon on the Fall of Rome (Le Sermon sur la chute de Rome) by Jérôme Ferrari — difficulty 57/100, about 3.8 hours

2011

• The French Art of War (L'Art français de la guerre) by Alexis Jenni — difficulty 58/100, about 12 hours

2010

• The Map and the Territory (La Carte et le Territoire) by Michel Houellebecq — difficulty 71/100, about 10 hours

2009

• Three Strong Women (Trois Femmes puissantes) by Marie NDiaye — difficulty 46/100, about 5.5 hours

2008

• The Patience Stone (Syngué sabour. Pierre de patience) by Atiq Rahimi — difficulty 53/100, about 2.1 hours

2007

• Alabama Song by Gilles Leroy

2006

• The Kindly Ones (Les Bienveillantes) by Jonathan Littell — difficulty 69/100, about 42 hours

2005

• Trois jours chez ma mère by François Weyergans

2004

• The Scortas' Sun (Le Soleil des Scorta) by Laurent Gaudé

2003

• Brecht's Mistress (La Maîtresse de Brecht) by Jacques-Pierre Amette

2002

• The Roving Shadows (Les Ombres errantes) by Pascal Quignard

2001

• Brazil Red (Rouge Brésil) by Jean-Christophe Rufin

2000

• Ingrid Caven by Jean-Jacques Schuhl — difficulty 55/100, about 4.4 hours

1999

• I'm Off (Je m'en vais) by Jean Echenoz

1998

• Trading Secrets (Confidence pour confidence) by Paule Constant

1997

• The Battle (La Bataille) by Patrick Rambaud — difficulty 56/100, about 5.7 hours

1996

• Le Chasseur Zéro by Pascale Roze

1995

• Dreams of My Russian Summers (Le Testament français) by Andreï Makine

1994

• One-Way (Un aller simple) by Didier van Cauwelaert

1993

• The Rock of Tanios (Le Rocher de Tanios) by Amin Maalouf — difficulty 36/100, about 4.4 hours

1992

• Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau — difficulty 73/100, about 12 hours

1991

• Les Filles du Calvaire by Pierre Combescot

1990

• Fields of Glory (Les Champs d'honneur) by Jean Rouaud

1989

• Un grand pas vers le bon Dieu by Jean Vautrin

1988

• Love and Empire (L'Exposition coloniale) by Erik Orsenna

1987

• The Sacred Night (La Nuit sacrée) by Tahar Ben Jelloun — difficulty 58/100, about 3.8 hours

1986

• Valet de nuit by Michel Host

1985

• The Wedding (Les Noces barbares) by Yann Queffélec

1984

• The Lover (L'Amant) by Marguerite Duras — difficulty 60/100, about 2.4 hours

1983

• The Lost Ones (Les Égarés) by Frédérick Tristan

1982

• Dans la main de l'ange by Dominique Fernandez

1981

• Anne Marie by Lucien Bodard

1980

• Cronus' Children (Le Jardin d'acclimatation) by Yves Navarre

1979

• Pélagie (Pélagie-la-Charrette) by Antonine Maillet

1978

• Missing Person (Rue des Boutiques obscures) by Patrick Modiano — difficulty 58/100, about 3.1 hours

1977

• John l'Enfer by Didier Decoin

1976

• Les Flamboyants by Patrick Grainville

1975

• The Life Before Us (La Vie devant soi) by Émile Ajar — difficulty 52/100, about 3.7 hours

1974

• A Web of Lace (La Dentellière) by Pascal Lainé

1973

• A Father's Love (L'Ogre) by Jacques Chessex

1972

• L'Épervier de Maheux by Jean Carrière

1971

• Les Bêtises by Jacques Laurent

1970

• The Erl-King (Le Roi des Aulnes) by Michel Tournier

1969

• Creezy by Félicien Marceau

1968

• The Fruits of Winter (Les Fruits de l'hiver) by Bernard Clavel

1967

• The Margin (La Marge) by André Pieyre de Mandiargues

1966

• To Forget Palermo (Oublier Palerme) by Edmonde Charles-Roux

1965

• The Bond (L'Adoration) by Jacques Borel

1964

• L'État sauvage by Georges Conchon

1963

• Quand la mer se retire by Armand Lanoux

1962

• The Lost Shore (Les Bagages de sable) by Anna Langfus

1961

• The Mercy of God (La Pitié de Dieu) by Jean Cau

1960

• God Was Born in Exile (Dieu est né en exil) by Vintila Horia

1959

• The Last of the Just (Le Dernier des Justes) by André Schwarz-Bart — difficulty 59/100, about 7.3 hours

1958

• Saint-Germain ou la Négociation by Francis Walder

1957

• The Law (La Loi) by Roger Vailland

1956

• The Roots of Heaven (Les Racines du ciel) by Romain Gary — difficulty 56/100, about 9.1 hours

1955

• Les Eaux mêlées by Roger Ikor

1954

• The Mandarins (Les Mandarins) by Simone de Beauvoir — difficulty 51/100, about 19 hours

1953

• Les Bêtes by Pierre Gascar

1952

• The Passionate Heart (Léon Morin, prêtre) by Béatrix Beck

1951

• The Opposing Shore (Le Rivage des Syrtes) by Julien Gracq — difficulty 59/100, about 8 hours, declined

1950

• Savage Play (Les Jeux sauvages) by Paul Colin

1949

• Week-end at Zuydcoote (Week-end à Zuydcoote) by Robert Merle

1948

• The Rise of Simon Lachaume (Les Grandes familles) by Maurice Druon

1947

• The Forests of the Night (Les Forêts de la nuit) by Jean-Louis Curtis

1946

• Histoire d'un fait divers by Jean-Jacques Gautier

1945

• French Village (Mon village à l'heure allemande) by Jean-Louis Bory

1944

• A Fine of Two Hundred Francs (Le premier accroc coûte deux cents francs) by Elsa Triolet

1943

• When the Man Passed By (Passage de l'homme) by Marius Grout

1942

• Pareils à des enfants by Marc Bernard

1941

• Vent de Mars by Henri Pourrat

1940

• The Long Holiday (Les Grandes vacances) by Francis Ambrière

1939

• Les Enfants gâtés by Philippe Hériat

1938

• L'Araigne by Henri Troyat

1937

• Faux passeports by Charles Plisnier

1936

• Hath Not the Potter (L'Empreinte du dieu) by Maxence Van der Meersch

1935

• Sang et Lumières by Joseph Peyré

1934

• Captain Conan (Capitaine Conan) by Roger Vercel

1933

• Man's Fate (La Condition humaine) by André Malraux — difficulty 58/100, about 7.4 hours

1932

• The Wolves (Les Loups) by Guy Mazeline

1931

• Desire (Mal d'amour) by Jean Fayard

1930

• The Soul of Malaya (Malaisie) by Henri Fauconnier

1929

• L'Ordre by Marcel Arland

1928

• A Man Scans His Past (Un homme se penche sur son passé) by Maurice Constantin-Weyer

1927

• Jerome (Jérôme 60° latitude nord) by Maurice Bedel

1926

• Le Supplice de Phèdre by Henri Deberly

1925

• Raboliot by Maurice Genevoix

1924

• Le Chèvrefeuille, le Purgatoire, le Chapitre XIII by Thierry Sandre

1923

• Rabevel ou le Mal des ardents by Lucien Fabre

1922

• Le Vitriol de Lune and Le Martyre de l'obèse by Henri Béraud

1921

• Batouala by René Maran

1920

• Nêne by Ernest Pérochon

1919

• Within a Budding Grove (À l'ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs) by Marcel Proust — difficulty 67/100, about 23 hours

1918

• Civilization (Civilisation) by Georges Duhamel

1917

• The Flame That Is France (La Flamme au poing) by Henry Malherbe

1916

• Under Fire (Le Feu) by Henri Barbusse

1915

• Private Gaspard (Gaspard) by René Benjamin

1914

• The Call of the Soil (L'Appel du sol) by Adrien Bertrand

1913

• Le Peuple de la mer by Marc Elder

1912

• Filles de la pluie by André Savignon

1911

• The Keynote (Monsieur des Lourdines) by Alphonse de Châteaubriant

1910

• De Goupil à Margot by Louis Pergaud

1909

• En France by Marius-Ary Leblond

1908

• Écrit sur de l'eau... by Francis de Miomandre

1907

• Terres lorraines and Jean des Brebis ou le livre de la misère by Émile Moselly

1906

• Dingley, l'illustre écrivain by Jérôme and Jean Tharaud

1905

• Les Civilisés by Claude Farrère

1904

• La Maternelle by Léon Frapié

1903

• Enemy Force (Force ennemie) by John-Antoine Nau — difficulty 52/100, about 5.7 hours

Questions

Who won the Prix Goncourt in 2026?

L'Inconnue du quai de Javel by Philippe Jaenada.

Which Prix Goncourt winner should I read first?

For the gentlest start, The Rock of Tanios by Amin Maalouf: the easiest of the 29 winners on ReadingRate to read, with a difficulty of 36/100 and about 4.4 hours of reading. For the quickest, The Order of the Day by Éric Vuillard, about 1.7 hours.

Which Prix Goncourt winner is the hardest to read?

Texaco by Patrick Chamoiseau, with a difficulty of 73/100; it takes about 12 hours.

Winners from Wikipedia, checked 2026-10-31.

Other prizes: Nobel Prize in Literature, Booker Prize, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, International Booker Prize, National Book Award for Fiction, Women's Prize for Fiction, Hugo Award for Best Novel, Nebula Award for Best Novel, Dublin Literary Award, PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, National Book Award for Nonfiction, Costa Novel Award, Albert J. Beveridge Award, Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction. Every literary prize; every winner of 2026.