François-Henri Désérable wins the hundredth Prix Renaudot
Le Palais takes six votes and turns wine into the engine of an adventure novel spanning continents and identities.
François-Henri Désérable has won the 2026 Prix Renaudot with Le Palais, published by Gallimard. The verdict came at Drouant restaurant in Paris on 3 November, during the prize’s hundredth edition: the novel received six votes, against four for David Djaïz’s La méthode. Le Palais follows Arun Kumar, an Indian orphan adopted by Burgundy restaurateurs, who turns his talent for oenology into a journey across France, the United States and India. The book combines formation, ambition and counterfeiting, making wine a narrative language as well as a professional world. Désérable thus returns to the centre of France’s literary prize season after winning the Académie française’s Grand Prix du Roman in 2021.