Sébastien Lapaque wins the Académie française Grand Prix du Roman
Le Rappel des oiseaux, published by Actes Sud, opens France’s major literary prize season with a €10,000 award.
The Académie française has awarded its 2026 Grand Prix du Roman in Paris to Sébastien Lapaque for Le Rappel des oiseaux, published by Actes Sud. Worth €10,000, the prize was decided on 29 October and marks a central moment in France’s autumn awards season. Lapaque prevailed in the third round of voting over Yannick Haenel, nominated for La solitude des professeurs est infinie, and Marie Petitcuénot, shortlisted for Heures sauvages. The decision brings renewed attention to Lapaque’s novel only weeks after its 7 October publication. The Académie’s award does not merely measure commercial performance: it identifies a title the institution considers representative of French fiction in the current year, placing the book immediately within the conversation among critics, booksellers and readers.