Nathacha Appanah’s novel La nuit au Cœur is among the Prix Goncourt 2025 finalists announced in Paris, France, on Tuesday, October 28, 2025.
The Prix Goncourt is given by the French Académie Goncourt to the author of “the best and most imaginative prose work of the year”. While it only has a token prize of around 10 Euros, it can increase a book’s sales by up to 200,000 to its winner. Previous winners include Leila Slimani (2016), Mohamed Mbougar Sarr (2021), and Kamel Daoud (2024), while Djaïli Amadou Amal made the shortlist in 2020.
The Goncourt Academy, chaired by Didier Decoin, is made up of Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, Pascal Bruckner, Paule Constant, Patrick Rambaud, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Camille Laurens, Françoise Chandernagor, Philippe Claudel, and Pierre Assouline.
The jury announced the first selection of the prize on September 3, before the second selection was made public on October 8. The finalist list of four features La nuit au Cœur by Nathacha Appanah (Gallimard), which explores the desperate struggle of women to escape their violent partners and the incomprehensible nature of domestic killings, delving into the conditions of violence that engulf their lives. It is also in the running for the Prix Fémina, Prix Renaudot, and Grand Prix du Roman Métis.
The winner will be announced at the Drouant restaurant, Paris, on November 4, 2025.
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