La maison vide by Laurent Mauvignier wins US Goncourt Prize Selection 

New York, April 13, 2026 – On Saturday, April 11, a jury of 11 university students named La maison vide by Laurent Mauvignier winner of the fifth US Goncourt Prize Selection. Hosted at Villa Albertine with remote participation of Honorary Chair Sandrine Collette (author of Madelaine avant l’aube, trans. by Alison Anderson, published by Europa Editions, and winner of the fourth US Goncourt Prize Selection), the award ceremony was the culmination of months of rigorous study and debate around the four-book Prix Goncourt shortlist conducted by students at 11 U.S. universities. This year, participating universities were Columbia University, Duke University, Harvard University, New York University, Princeton University, University of California Los Angeles, University of Florida, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Southern California, University of Virginia and Yale University. 

The Prix Goncourt is considered one of France’s most prestigious literary prizes. The International Goncourt Prize Selection distinction –– bestowed by university students across 40 countries worldwide –– serves as a global literary barometer, measuring how the shortlist for the Prix Goncourt resonates with younger audiences. The US prize, now in its fifth year, is organized and funded by Villa Albertine, in partnership with the Académie Goncourt and universities from the French Embassy’s Centers of Excellence network. 

This year’s winner, Laurent Mauvignier, studied fine arts at the École des Beaux-Arts of Tours and then started writing fiction, publishing his first novel Loin d’eux (Éditions de Minuit, 1999). Since then, he’s published several novels and plays and written for television and cinema. 

La maison vide, published by Les Éditions de Minuit, begins in 1976 when a man reopens the house he inherited from his mother after it has been closed for twenty years. Filled with stories, the house bears the traces of two world wars and of rural life in the first half of the twentieth century, as well as the lives of three generations of women and the men who orbited around them. Through their intertwined histories, the novel brings these figures into the light and explores how their shadows extend into the present. The American translation will soon be available in the US. 

The 2026 US Goncourt Prize was awarded by a jury of 11 students who described the selection process selection as an “enriching experience filled with intense debates”. They discussed key criteria such as theme, the political dimension of literature, style, prose and writing, literary merit, impact, and finally, authenticity and connection to reality.  

“This exchange brought to our attention thoughtful and carefully argued interpretations, and what made this debate particularly valuable was the collective effort of our generation, young adults, to listen, respond, and reflect on what gives a literary work its force and the lasting impact a book can have on its audience, as potential agents of social change.” Barbara Marinescu, Duke University, President of the Jury. 

After several rounds of voting and in-depth discussions, La maison vide emerged as the work that reached the broadest consensus. 

Laurent Mauvignier’s La maison vide was selected from a shortlist that also included: 

• La nuit au cœur by Nathacha Appanah (Gallimard) 
• Kolkhoze by Emmanuel Carrère (P.O.L)
• Le Bel Obscur by Caroline Lamarche (Seuil)