The Prix Femina is a French literary prize awarded each year by an exclusively female jury. The prize, which was established in 1904, is awarded to French-language works written in prose or verse by male or female writers, and is announced on the first Wednesday of November each year. Four categories of prizes are awarded: Prix Femina, Prix Femina essai, Prix Femina étranger (foreign novels), and Prix Femina des lycéens. A Prix Femina spécial is occasionally awarded.

History The Prix Femina was created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine La Vie heureuse, which later merged into the magazine Femina, which ceased publication in 1954.

After the Great War, in 1919 Librairie Hachette proposed to the allied countries to create a similar prize. Great Britain accepted, and the first meeting of its jury was held on 20 June 1920. The prize was called the Prix Femina–Vie Heureuse, and it was awarded to English writers, from 1920 to 1939. Among the winners were E. M. Forster in 1925 and Virginia Woolf in 1928.

Similarly, in 1920 Lady Northcliffe, wife of Alfred Harmsworth, proposed to create a prize for French writers called the Northcliffe prize. Among the winners were Joseph Kessel in 1924, Julien Green in 1928, and Jean Giono in 1931. The last meeting of the jury for this prize was held on 10 April 1940, before the Nazis occupied France during World War II.

The archives of the English Committee are held by Cambridge University Library.

Jury , the jury of the Femina consisted of eleven female members:

Josyane Savigneau (president) Evelyne Bloch-Dano Claire Gallois Anne-Marie Garat Paula Jacques Christine Jordis Mona Ozouf Danièle Sallenave Nathalie Azoulai Scholastique Mukasonga Patricia Reznikov

List of winners There are currently four categories: Prix Femina, Prix Femina essai, Prix Femina étranger (foreign novels), and Prix Femina des lycéens.

Prix Femina YearTitleAuthorNotes1904 La Conquête de Jérusalem Myriam Harry1905 Jean-Christophe Romain Rolland1906 Gemmes et moires André Corthis1907 Princesses de science Colette Yver1908 La Vie secrète Édouard Estaunié1909 Le reste est silence Edmond Jaloux1910 Marie-Claire Marguerite Audoux1911 Le Roman du malade Louis de Robert1912 Feuilles mortes Jacques Morel1913 La Statue voilée Camille Marbo1914 no winner1915 no winner1916 no winner1917 L'Odyssée d'un transport torpillé René Milan1918 Le Serviteur Henri Bachelin1919 Les Croix de bois Roland Dorgelès1920 Le Jardin des Dieux Edmond Gojon1921 Cantegril Raymond Escholier1922 Silbermann Jacques de Lacretelle1923 Les Allongés Jeanne Galzy1924 Le Bestiaire sentimental Charles Derennes1925 Jeanne d'Arc Joseph Delteil1926 Prodige du cœur Charles Silvestre1927 Grand-Louis l'innocent Marie Le Franc1928 Georgette Garou Dominique Dunois1929 La Joie Georges Bernanos1930 Cécile de la Folie Marc Chadourne1931 Vol de nuit Antoine de Saint-Exupéry1932 Le Pari Ramon Fernandez1933 Claude Geneviève Fauconnier1934 Le Bateau-refuge Robert Francis1935 Bénédiction Claude Silve1936 Sangs Louise Hervieu1937 Campagne Raymonde Vincent1938 Caroline ou le Départ pour les îles Félix de Chazournes1939 La Rose de la mer Paul Vialar1940 no winner1941 no winner1942 no winner1943 no winner1944 (Special award for its French Resistance work) Éditions de Minuit (publisher) 1945 Le Chemin du soleil Anne-Marie Monnet1946 Le Temps de la longue patience Michel Robida1947 Bonheur d'occasion Gabrielle Roy1948 Les Hauteurs de la ville Emmanuel Roblès1949 La Dame de cœur Maria Le Hardouin1950 La Femme sans passé Serge Groussard1951 Jabadao Anne de Tourville1952 Le Souffle Dominique Rolin1953 La Pierre angulaire Zoé Oldenbourg1954 La Machine humaine Gabriel Veraldi1955 Le pays où l'on arrive jamais André Dhôtel1956 Les Adieux François-Régis Bastide1957 Le Carrefour des solitudes Christian Mégret1958 L'Empire céleste (Café Céleste) Françoise Mallet-Joris1959 Au pied du mur Bernard Privat1960 La Porte retombée Louise Bellocq1961 Le Promontoire (The Promontory) Henri Thomas1962 Le Sud Yves Berger1963 La Nuit de Mougins Roger Vrigny1964 Le Faussaire Jean Blanzat1965 Quelqu'un (Someone) Robert Pinget1966 Nature morte devant la fenêtre Irène Monesi1967 Élise ou la Vraie Vie Claire Etcherelli1968 L'Oeuvre au noir (The Abyss) Marguerite Yourcenar1969 La Deuxième Mort de Ramón Mercader Jorge Semprún1970 La Crève François Nourissier1971 La Maison des Atlantes Angelo Rinaldi1972 Ciné-roman Roger Grenier1973 Juan Maldonne Michel Dard1974 L'Imprécateur René-Victor Pilhes1975 Le Maître d'heure Claude Faraggi1976 Le Trajet Marie-Louise Haumont1977 La neige brûle Régis Debray1978 Un amour de père François Sonkin1979 Le Guetteur d'ombre Pierre Moinot1980 Joue-nous España Jocelyne François1981 Le Grand Vizir de la nuit Catherine Hermary-Vieille1982 Les Fous de Bassan (In the Shadow of the Wind) Anne Hébert1983 Riche et légère Florence Delay1984 Tous les soleils Bertrand Visage1985 Sans la miséricorde du Christ Hector Bianciotti1986 L'Enfer René Belletto 1987 L'Égal à Dieu (God's Equal) Alain Absire1988 Le Zèbre (The Zebra) Alexandre Jardin1989 Jours de colère Sylvie Germain1990 Nous sommes éternels Pierrette Fleutiaux1991 Déborah et les anges dissipés Paula Jacques1992 Aden Anne-Marie Garat1993 L'Oeil du silence Marc Lambron1994 Port-Soudan Olivier Rolin1995 La Classe de neige (Class Trip) Emmanuel Carrère1996 Week-end de chasse à la mère Geneviève Brisac1997 Amour noirDominique Noguez1998 Le Dit de Tianyi (The River Below) François Cheng1999 Anchise Maryline Desbiolles2000 Dans ces bras-là (In His Arms)Camille Laurens2001 Rosie CarpeMarie Ndiaye2002 Les adieux à la reine (Farewell, My Queen) Chantal Thomas2003 Le complexe de Di (Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch)Dai Sijie2004 Une vie française (Vie Francaise) Jean-Paul Dubois2005 Asile de fous Régis Jauffret2006 Lignes de faille (Fault Lines) Nancy Huston2007 Baisers de cinéma Eric Fottorino2008 Où on va, papa? Jean-Louis Fournier2009 Personne Gwenaëlle Aubry 2010 La vie est brève et le désir sans fin Patrick Lapeyre 2011 Jayne Mansfield 1967 Simon Liberati 2012 Peste & Choléra Patrick Deville 2013 La Saison de l’ombre Léonora Miano 2014 Bain de lune Yanick Lahens 2015 La Cache Christophe Boltanski 2016 Le GarçonMarcus Malte 2017 La SerpePhilippe Jaenada 2018 Le Lambeau (Disturbance: Surviving Charlie Hebdo)Philippe Lançon 2019 Par les routes Sylvain Prudhomme 2020 Nature humaineSerge Joncour2021S'adapterClara Dupont-Monod2022Un chien à ma tableClaudie Hunzinger2023 Triste Tigre (Sad Tiger) Neige Sinno2024 Le rêve du jaguar Miguel Bonnefoy2025 La Nuit au cœur Nathacha Appanah

Prix Femina étranger

The Prix Femina étranger is awarded annually to a foreign-language literary work translated into French.

Prix Femina essai

The Prix Femina essai, established in 1999, is awarded to an essay. It replaced the Prix Hélène Vacaresco.

Prix Femina spécial The has been awarded to several writers, for the entirety of their work.

In 2017, anthropologist and essayist Françoise Héritier was awarded a Prix Femina spécial.

Pierre Guyotat was awarded the prize in 2018.

In 2019, the Prix Femina spécial was awarded to Irish novelist Edna O'Brien, following the publication of her last novel, Girl, which had been shortlisted for the Prix Femina étranger. The prize was awarded in honour of her whole body of work, and it was the first time a non-French author had won it.

Prix Femina des lycéens YearTitleAuthor2016 Tropique de la violence Nathacha Appanah2017 Ma reine Jean-Baptiste Andrea2018 Je voudrais que la nuit me prenne Isabelle Desesquelles2019 La Chaleur Victor Jestin2020 Ce qu'il faut de nuit Laurent Petitmangin2021 Le rire des déesses Ananda Devi2022 Tenir sa langue Polina Panassenko2023 Ce que je sais de toi Éric ChacourLaila Maalouf, "Éric Chacour remporte le Femina des lycéens". La Presse, November 28, 2023.2024Ilaria ou la conquête de la désobéissanceGabriella Zalapi2025Le monde est fatiguéJoseph Incardona

Femina–Vie Heureuse The following awards were made during the lifetime of the award. YearTitleAuthor1920 William - an Englishman Cicely Hamilton1921 The Splendid Fairing Constance Holme1922 Dangerous Ages Rose Macaulay1923 Gruach Gordon Bottomley1924 Roman Pictures Percy Lubbock1925 A Passage to India E. M. Forster1926 Precious Bane Mary Webb1927 Adam's Breed Radclyffe Hall1928 To the Lighthouse Virginia Woolf1929 Gallion's Reach H. M. Tomlinson1930 Portrait in a Mirror Charles Morgan1931 A High Wind in Jamaica Richard Hughes1932 Tobit Transplanted Stella Benson1933 Small Town Bradda Field1934 Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons1935 Harriet Elizabeth Jenkins1936 The Root and the Flower L. H. Myers1937 Faith, Hope, no Charity Margaret Lane1938 The Porch Richard Church1939 Count Belisarius Robert Graves

See also List of literary awards

Footnotes

References

External links

Prix Femina, at Prix Litteraires website National archive Femina Vie Heureuse Prize: English Committee, an archive of documents covering 1919–1940