In Rennes, on November 27, 2025, thirteen representatives of about 2,000 high school students awarded the Franco-Mauritian novelist Nathacha Appanah the Goncourt des lycéens for La nuit au cœur. Also crowned by the Femina and the Renaudot des lycéens, this book, which confronts violence against women, was celebrated the same evening at the Élysée. A youth that judges and prescribes, a text that compels us to look.
At the Rennes City Hall, a decision driven by youth
The final deliberation took place in Rennes. Thirteen jurors (12 female students and 1 male student) from all regions made their decision after about two hours of intense arguments: Nathacha Appanah receives the 2025 Goncourt des lycéens for La nuit au cœur, published by Gallimard. The announcement, made on 11/27/2025 around 1:00 PM, resonated as the epilogue of a long process conducted from September to November by nearly 2,000 students from about 50 to 57 high schools in France and abroad. The scene is simple, almost austere: aligned chairs, open notebooks, young voices expressing their emotion and demands.
A triple award season that changes the scale
The Rennes distinction adds to two major literary prizes: the Femina Prize (awarded on 11/03/2025) and the Renaudot des lycéens Prize (11/13/2025). In one autumn, La nuit au cœur has thus experienced a triple consecration in literary prizes. Since its publication on 08/21/2025, the book has sold about 52,000 copies. It has topped several booksellers’ charts. This progression confirms the momentum effect of the autumn prizes. Youth now plays a leading role.
A book in chiaroscuro: three women, the same vertigo
The narrative weaves together three destinies: Chahinez Daoud, Emma, Nathacha Appanah herself. Two are dead, victims of feminicides. The third, the author, recounts the survival, the body that remembers, the fear covered by words. Mérignac in 2021, Mauritius in 2000: two places, two crimes, the same intimate fracture. In La nuit au cœur, the demand for accuracy is at stake. It is not about impossible exhaustiveness, but about getting as close as possible. It concerns the sensation, the breath, the falling night, and the language that holds. Nothing is sugar-coated. The high school students say it: a "raw", "realistic" book, sometimes nauseating, that shakes consciences.
In the classrooms, shock and speech
For nearly two months, students read, compare, debate. Meetings with authors multiply in the regions and in Paris. For example, a session at the Cabaret Sauvage on 10/06/2025 is remembered. In this close engagement with the texts, words take on new density. A juror, Manon, 17 years old, confides that it was necessary to stop occasionally, catch her breath, as some pages are harrowing, especially those revisiting the murder of Chahinez Daoud. The strength of the setup is there: opening speech in the classroom, sharpening critical thinking, encouraging the taste for reading. Teachers say the same thing: literature becomes a matter of shared attention.
At the Élysée, the award that commits
On the evening of 11/27/2025, the laureate receives her prize at the Élysée Palace, in Paris. This happens in the presence of the President of the Republic, his wife, and about 200 high school students. The head of state praises a magnificent and moving novel, then sees in this reading a decisive contribution. Indeed, it contributes to the fight against violence against women. He takes the opportunity to remind that reading remains an act of resistance: attention stretches, experience densifies, far from the scrolling of videos on our phones. A way to inscribe, at the heart of the protocol, a plea for long-term.
What a youth prize decides
Created in 1988, the Goncourt des lycéens has managed to anchor itself in the landscape. It is co-organized by Fnac and the Ministry of National Education, under the high patronage of the Académie Goncourt. Its secret? A selection of 14 novels, almost mirroring that of the adult Goncourt prize, a chain of readings and regional meetings, then a final instance that condenses, in Rennes, the collective journey. Some years, its prescriptive effect leads to massive sales, benefiting the life of bookstores and libraries. Here, the movement is clear: the media visibility of Nathacha Appanah changes scale, the author shifts into broader notoriety, especially among teen readers.
The art of meeting: a held language, an offered gaze
Nathacha Appanah, a Franco-Mauritian novelist born in 1973 in Mahébourg, lives and writes in France. She has long experienced what exile displaces: the feeling of distance, the necessity to find a voice. Her work carries the themes that traverse her: origin, youth, social and intimate violence, the sea as a horizon. Her language, precise and flexible, retains a light even when advancing into the night. La nuit au cœur is perhaps her most personal novel. She revisits a violent relationship and questions: how does love deform, become poison closest to the body? In meetings with high school students, she notes the frankness of the questions and the demand on the language. Moreover, these "very precious" moments of confidence extend the reading beyond the official session.
A rigorous setup, a collective decision
Each participating institution designates delegates. They defend their choices at the regional level. From there, some are selected to form the final jury in Rennes. On 11/27/2025, the protocol is clear: 10 minutes of speaking time per book, a round of arguments, a vote. La nuit au cœur prevails. Elsa Lelaumier, spokesperson for the jury, conveys the momentum: an engaged, realistic choice that names a "long-taboo issue." Nothing of a whimsical crush: rather the realization that literature can, here and now, make visible what remains too invisible.
Reading stakes: attention and emancipation
This prize says something about our moment. At a time when attention spans are fragmenting, reading appears as a support for youth. Not a refuge, but a test of freedom. Reading requires giving time, confronting otherness. In La nuit au cœur, otherness is immediate and close, these are broken lives and affected bodies. Moreover, a society still hesitates to name domestic violence for what it is: crimes. The high school students felt it: the text shifts the gaze, unfolds nuances, provides words to speak.
The role of institutions and booksellers
The partnership between Fnac and the National Education ensures the anchoring of the prize in institutions. Booksellers quickly measure the impact of the deliberations. The rankings adjust, the new releases tables reorganize around the awarded books. The book exists in the word-of-mouth of the classes and then, very quickly, in that of families. This year, the momentum translates into sustained sales and increased circulation of the novel in libraries. The Goncourt des lycéens is not just a trophy: it is a mechanism that encourages reading.
Reading and care: some useful resources
Talking about violence against women requires sobriety and caution. For any emergency situation, dial 17 (or 114 by SMS for deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals). For listening and guidance, call 3919 (anonymous and free call). These numbers do not exhaust the available help: associations, shelters, specialized consultations.
Mentions and credits
Prize co-organized by Fnac and the Ministry of National Education, under the high patronage of the Académie Goncourt. Direct quotes attributed to Nathacha Appanah and the President of the Republic are reported as stated during the meetings and the ceremony.