Gaël Octavia’s L’étrangeté de Mathilde T is a Prix Goncourt Printemps 2025 winner; the announcement was made in Paris, France, on Tuesday, May 6, 2025.
The Société littéraire des Goncourt (Goncourt Literary Society), usually called the Académie Goncourt (Goncourt Academy), is a literary organisation founded by French writer and publisher Edmond de Goncourt in Paris in 1900. Every year, they hand out the Prix Goncourt, the most prestigious award for writing in fiction in French. They also have Prix Goncourt Printemps (English: Goncourt Spring Prize), which are Goncourt de la Poésie (for poetry), Goncourt du premier roman (for fiction), Goncourt de la Nouvelle (first novel), and Goncourt de la Biographie Edmonde Charles-Roux (biography). In 2024, Louis-Philippe Dalembert and Eve Guerra were among the winners.
The 2025 finalists were announced to the public by the jury on April 8 before the winners were made public on May 6. Gael Octavia’s L’étrangeté de Mathilde T won in the Goncourt de la Nouvelle (first novel). Gaël Octavia’s L’étrangeté de Mathilde T (English: The Strangeness of Mathilde T.) published by Continents noirs / Gallimard comes with the blurb;
Here are sixteen short stories where strangeness is everywhere: in the strong personalities of the characters, in the encounters, in the laughter, or even in death. The heroines share the power of their imagination. A touch of madness, a jubilant energy are at work when they transform a public bench into a caravel, a comb into a dagger, a handbag into a war machine. They are disturbing like Adèle, the poisonous grandmother, passionate like Émilie walking her beloved in a wheelchair, violent like this mother pushed to the limit. The relationship is rarely peaceful between the orphan of Bumidom and the erudite Kalinago, between the little Parisian girl and the African child emerging from a closet, between the housekeeper and her bobo boss. The dialogue is woven with misunderstandings, the path is strewn with surprises.
Gaël Octavia said on Instagram;
As you can see, I’ve been filled with joy and gratitude since Tuesday, extremely moved to succeed the wonderful Véronique Ovaldé as winner of the Goncourt Prize for Short Stories.
First of all: congratulations to the other winners and the winner of the spring Goncourt Prizes – as the Descendance says, you did a great job!
Thank you to the prestigious Goncourt jury for recognizing Mathilde T.’s Strangeness! Thanks, of course, to my editor Jean-Noël Schifano, director of the Continents Noirs collection, for his passion for beautiful writing and for the faith he shows in his authors; to Sophie Gallet, the best press officer of all time; to Vanessa Nahon; and to Gallimard Publishing.
Dad Raymond and Mom Tine, I thought of you a lot on Tuesday morning. Thank you!
To my friends, allies, girlfriends, and other Kanmarads, thank you for all the kind words I’ve received since the announcement! This shared joy is the best thing there is!
To the people of Martinique who express their happiness and pride: thank you! You are extraordinary! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, thank you! To the fòs, to the bo, to the chay lanmou ba zòt!
To book readers in general: read short stories! They are miniature worlds that will follow you everywhere, delicacies, chili candies, disruptive elements, little UFOs with a smooth or abrasive power. A good story can be delicious, exhilarating, it can be disconcerting, and even lastingly traumatic. (Try to imagine the following set to the tune of Fela Kuti’s “Water No Get Enemy.”) With a cup of tea, read a short story! On the bus/metro/TCSP/taxi: read a short story! Instead of scrolling, read a short story!
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