The Carnavalet Museum in Paris once again served as a prestigious setting for the announcement of the 2025 Prix Femina, presented on Monday, November 3. This year, Mauritian writer Nathacha Appanah was awarded the prize for her novel La Nuit au cœur, published by Gallimard. This intimate and poignant text, rooted in the fight against violence against women, stands out as a powerful and essential work of the literary season.
In La Nuit au cœur, Nathacha Appanah explores the fate of three women confronted with a spiral of male violence. With sober and powerful writing, the author offers a profound reflection on pain, resilience, and reconstruction. Since its publication on August 21, the novel has been a huge success: it has already sold nearly 31,000 copies, according to NielsenIQ BookData, and was shortlisted for the 2025 Prix Goncourt. The book also ranks first in the 21st Palmarès Livres Hebdo des libraires, with an average rating of 3.9/5.
The all-female jury of the Prix Femina, composed of twelve members, chose La Nuit au cœur in the second round of voting, ahead of four other finalists: Au grand jamais by Jakuta Alikavazovic (Gallimard), Un mal irréparable by Lionel Duroy (Mialet-Barrault), Le monde est fatigué by Joseph Incardona (Finitude), and La Maison vide by Laurent Mauvignier (Minuit). The Prix Femina for essays was awarded to Marc Weitzmann for La Part sauvage (Grasset), while the Prix Femina for foreign works went to John Boyne for Les Éléments (JC Lattès), translated from English by Sophie Aslanides.
The 2025 edition of the Prix Femina is thus part of a particularly busy literary season, on the eve of the Prix Goncourt and Prix Renaudot awards, and a few days before the Prix Médicis. It is a high point that confirms the vitality and diversity of today's literary voices, combining introspection, commitment, and humanity.
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