Prix Goncourt des lycéens 2025 and Nathacha Appanah: calendar, process, how students decide, and what could tip the scales this year.
The countdown to the Prix Goncourt des lycéens 2025 has started, and one name already draws attention: Nathacha Appanah. Readers, teachers, and bookshops keep asking the same thing – will a new novel from the Mauritian-French author enter the student shortlist and catch fire in classrooms?
Created in 1988 by the Ministry of National Education et Fnac, the prize mobilizes around 2,000 high school students across roughly 50 to 60 schools each fall. They read the Goncourt rentrée selection, debate regionally, then deliver a national verdict in Rennes near late November. In 2023, the jury crowned Neige Sinno for “Triste tigre” on 23 November, a reminder that teens set their own compass, far from literary parisian buzz.
Prix Goncourt des lycéens 2025: how the race will unfold
Here is the frame. The Académie Goncourt usually unveils its rentrée list in early September – about 15 to 16 novels. Student juries recieve sets, read intensely for nearly two months, and run regional deliberations in November. The final jury gathers in Rennes, where the winner is announced publicly, often during the last third of the month.
Numbers help to ground expectations. Since 1988, the process has kept the same backbone: several dozen schools, more than a thousand readers, one national laureate. Organizers coordinate meetings in bookstores and media centers so that debates remain lively, not theoretical. That hands-on rhythm often favors accessible yet ambitious narratives.
Recent timelines offer a benchmark. In 2021, Clara Dupont-Monod won on 25 November with “S’adapter”. In 2022, Sabyl Ghoussoub triumphed with “Beyrouth-sur-Seine” in late November. In 2023, the verdict arrived on 23 November. Expect 2025 to follow a similar arc, with the spotlight peaking between mid and late November after weeks of reading marathons.
Nathacha Appanah: why her novels speak to teenagers
Nathacha Appanah writes about shattered families, displacement, tenderness and violence that spills into everyday life. The language stays precise, the pace vivid, the emotions close to the skin. That mix matters to 16 to 18 year-olds who want clarity without simplification, intensity without posture.
One fact counts here. In 2016, “Tropique de la violence” earned the Prix Femina des lycéens, a parallel student jury distinct from the Goncourt network. The signal was clear: young readers respond to Appanah’s way of telling hard truths through characters their age can understand, even when the setting feels far from their own city.
Classrooms often pick her novels for guided reading because they spark conversation about identity, responsibility, and care. Teachers report that discussions flow fast when a text leaves room for nuance. If a new Appanah novel appears before early September 2025 and enters the Goncourt rentrée list, her candidacy would instantly look credible within the lycéens’ framework.
What the student jury rewards: criteria, trends, and a realistic scenario for 2025
Observation first. The Goncourt des lycéens often diverges from the Académie Goncourt. In 2023, the Académie honored Jean-Baptiste Andrea for “Veiller sur elle”, while students chose “Triste tigre”. In 2021, the Académie celebrated Mohamed Mbougar Sarr for “La plus secrète mémoire des hommes”, while students backed “S’adapter”. The pattern is steady: teenagers elect the book that speaks to them now, not the one critics predict.
Common mistake: thinking media noise decides. It does not. Students privilege narrative immersion, clear stakes, and a voice that feels honest when read aloud in class. They look for empathy, momentum, and scenes that stick. Formal brilliance counts only if it serves feeling and story.
So what would put Nathacha Appanah in pole position if she appears on the 2025 list? Three levers usually matter. First, a protagonist whose choices echo high-school dilemmas – loyalty, belonging, guilt. Second, a setting that widens horizons without losing intimacy. Third, a language that balances lyricism and punch so that pages turn quickly during the tight reading window.
One more piece of context for those following the calendar closely. Watch early September for the Académie Goncourt selection, then track regional meetings in early to mid November through organizer updates. If an Appanah title is present and discussed widely in high-school reading circles by late October, the momentum is there. Bookstores in Rennes and partner cities often host public encounters – the best way to gauge the room before the final deliberation lands near the end of November.