The Prix Renaudot jury, gathered at Drouant under the chairmanship of Frédéric Beigbeder, unveiled on September 8, 2026 the first selection for its centenary edition — 17 novels and 9 essays. An unprecedented fact: two Cameroonian novelists appear on it at once.
Hemley Boum was selected for "Nos vies sauvages" (Gallimard, published August 20, 2026, 336 pages), a fresco following Ndolo Elimbi, a Cameroonian lawyer imprisoned for defying those in power, spanning half a century marked by political repression, exile and corruption.
Osvalde Lewat, a Franco-Cameroonian author, photographer and filmmaker, also appears on the first list with "Un corps indocile" (Philippe Rey/Jimsaan, published August 2026). The novel follows Deffo, an African tailor settled in Paris whose body deteriorates without diagnosis, until he returns to his native country — renamed "Zambuena" in the fiction — where he works in a textile factory under Chinese control.
The second selection will be announced on October 7, the final list on October 28, and the winner's name on November 3 at Drouant, right after the Prix Goncourt. Both novels currently stand on equal footing, on the same list of seventeen titles, with nothing yet to indicate how the process will unfold.
