Prix Goncourt ceremony amid industry crisis

The 2026 Prix Goncourt will be awarded on Tuesday at noon at the upscale Drouant restaurant in Paris's Opéra district, as the French book industry faces a deepening crisis.

Government funding cut sparks backlash

A collective of industry actors has criticized the government for reducing direct subsidies by 25%, from 23.2 million to 17.4 million euros between 2025 and 2026, and has launched a campaign under the hashtag #SauvonsLaLecture to call for saving reading.

Reading habits in decline

According to a recent Ipsos barometer for the National Center for the Book, one in six French people read no books in 2025, the highest rate in the last decade. Over five million fewer readers in six years have led to a decline in bookstores, with closures surpassing openings for the first time last year.

Collective calls for cultural preservation

The collective, Plaidoyer pour le livre et la lecture, comprising about sixty organizations, argues that budget cuts are truncating imaginations and undermining the cultural sector. Sophie Noël, director of Normandie Livre et la Lecture, notes that the economic impact on the state is minimal, as these direct subsidies account for only 0.21% of the Ministry of Culture's budget.

Funding cuts threaten literary ecosystem

The collective warns that reduced funding will lead to fewer published books, fewer author invitations to literary events, and fewer writing grants and residencies for authors. The crisis comes as the government debates the 2027 finance bill, which would formalize the historic funding cut.

Reading seen as vital for society

The issue is framed as an educational, social, and democratic emergency, with reading seen as essential for language development, concentration, critical thinking, and imagination. The controversy follows the exclusion of Thélyson Orélien from the Prix Goncourt shortlist due to allegations of using artificial intelligence in his novel C’était ça ou mourir.