L TO R Priya Paul, Chairperson of Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels Gregor Trumel Counsellor for Cooperation and Cultural Action, French Embassy in India H.E. Mr. & Mrs. Thierry Mathou, Ambassador of France to India

New Delhi, Mar 27: La Nuit au Coeur (Night in the Heart) by Nathacha Appanah has been awarded the Goncourt Choice of India 2026. The winner was announced by a jury of Indian students following a day of deliberations held in New Delhi, in the presence of distinguished guests including Ms Priya Paul, Chairperson of Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels Limited and H.E. Mr Thierry Mathou, Ambassador of France to India.

The prize honours a work of French literature from the shortlist of the prestigious Goncourt Prize. The winning title is subsequently translated into at least one Indian language. The jury members formally announced the winner for the 2026 edition: La Nuit au Coeur (Night in the Heart) by Nathacha Appanah.

The Goncourt Choice of India, supported by Apeejay Surrendra Group Director Priti Paul through the Apeejay Trust, aims to foster cultural exchanges and strengthen ties between Indian readers and French authors. 

In La Nuit au cœur (Night in the Heart, 2025), Nathacha Appanah examines the unbearable enigma of intimate partner femicide, when the dark night takes the place of love, through the intertwined stories of three women who are victims of their partner’s violence. The book won the prestigious Prix Femina in France and has now become the Goncourt Choice of India.

Nathacha Appanah is a prize-winning French-Mauritian novelist of Indian origin. Born in Mauritius, she is descended from Telugu-speaking Indian indentured labourers who immigrated to the island. Her writing often addresses themes of identity, displacement, and the memory of her Indian heritage in a Mauritian context. Her debut novel, The Rocks of Gold Dust (Les Rochers de Poudre d’Or, 2003) traces the journey of Indian indentured labourers to Mauritius, and Washed-Out Memory (La Mémoire délavée, 2023) recounts the story of her grandparents.

Programme Expansion & Future Initiatives

Under a new partnership with the Apeejay Trust, the programme will expand with additional initiatives. A translation competition will be launched this month, inviting translators to submit excerpts of the winning title in languages including English, Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada, and Marathi.

The winning translator will receive a publication contract supported by Institut Français India and Apeejay.

Event Highlights

The jury members, literature lovers, publishers, and authors gathered at The Park Hotel for a distinguished literary soirée. A thought-provoking conversation between Meena Kandasamy, Prayaag Akbar, and Gautam Bhatia, moderated by Amrita Tripathi, on the theme, “In literature, are we always writing about ourselves?”

The theme reflects a growing trend in contemporary literature, particularly in France, where recent selections increasingly foreground intimate, personal narratives. The latest shortlist for the Prix Goncourt features works that intertwine family histories with broader historical events, prompting reflection on the autobiographical nature of writing.

About the Jury & Selection Process

For the fifth consecutive year, students of French from across India participated in the International Goncourt Prize programme, run by the Académie Goncourt and extended to more than forty countries by the French cultural network.

The Indian jury was composed of students from eight universities — The English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Pondicherry University, Savitribai Phule Pune University, University of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of Rajasthan, Banaras Hindu University, and University of Punjab — along with students from the network of Alliances françaises in India.

Over four months, the jurors read and discussed four shortlisted books in original French:

• Nathacha Appanah’s La Nuit au Cœur

• Emmanuel Carrère’s Kolkhoze

• Caroline Lamarche’s Le Bel Obscur

• Laurent Mauvignier’s La Maison Vide

A series of online sessions helped familiarise participants with the Goncourt Prize, literary criticism, and the publishing journey behind the titles.

This edition was particularly special as it was patronized by eminent Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun, member of the Prix Goncourt jury and winner of the prize in 1987.

The presidents of each of the nine juries met at the Embassy of France in Delhi on the morning of March 17, where they debated their choices before a lunch hosted by the Ambassador — following a tradition established by the Goncourt Academy over a century ago. The jury arrived at their decision early in the afternoon.