Anne Godard wins Nancy Booksellers - Le Point Prize 2026
Author Anne Godard has won the 2026 Nancy Booksellers - Le Point Prize for her novel 'Nous aussi,' published by Actes Sud.
Anne Godard is the winner of the 2026 Nancy Booksellers - Le Point Prize for her novel Nous aussi, published by Actes Sud. The prize is awarded each year by the Lire à Nancy booksellers' association and the editorial staff of Le Point magazine during the Livre sur la Place festival. Godard's novel is also on the initial selection list for the Prix Goncourt. Published in August, the book has sold copies to date according to Nielsen IQ BookData from the Electre database.
Awarded since 2008 at the Le Livre sur la Place fair, where Le Point is a partner, the prize has previously honored authors including Pierre Lemaitre, Alice Zeniter, and Marie-Hélène Lafon. Other past winners are Yves Ravey, Mathias Enard, Lydie Salvayre, Nathacha Appanah, and Abel Quentin. Laurent Mauvignier won in 2025 for La Maison vide. That novel, which also won the 2025 Goncourt Prize, has sold copies.
A Family Under a Spell
In Nous aussi, Anne Godard paints the portrait of a family described as "united to the point of imprisoning its members." The novel explores the dark side of this family unit through what is called "a literary vivisection of rare power." The family's gilded appearance hides a claustrophobic dynamic that leads to a "rotting inherent in what does not breathe."
Le Point praises a novel carried by "short chapters and a 'we' as fused and suffocating as it is undefined." The publication's editorial staff says the book surpasses "the chronicle of a privileged milieu shaken by a drama." For Isabelle Gegoux of the Hall du livre, the text interrogates "family influence, buried secrets, the difficulty of saying 'I' when the 'we,' instead of protecting, crushes, violates, and annihilates the individual."
Marc Didier of the Librairie Didier highlights the novel's architecture and its collective voice, which leads the reader to "discern the breaking and shattering points of this family unity." Emma Navarro of L'Autre Rive speaks of "a family chronicle carried by an enchanting clan-like voice" and calls it a "powerful book about childhood, transmission, and secret."
Award Ceremony on September 11
The prize will be awarded on Friday, September 11 at 3 p.m. At the Forum littéraire Bernard Pivot as part of the 48th edition of Le Livre sur la Place. The ceremony will be followed by an interview with Anne Godard moderated by Christophe Ono-dit-Biot, deputy editorial director of Le Point.
The jury includes Emma Navarro and Frédéric Jaffrennou from L'Autre Rive, Marc Didier from the Librairie Didier, Astrid Canada and Isabelle Gegoux from the Hall du livre, along with the culture desk of Le Point.
Founded in 1979 and under the patronage of the Académie Goncourt, Le Livre sur la Place marks the kickoff of the literary season each year.
