Olivier Norek, Prix Jean Giono 2024

In contention for the major autumn prizes, the available detective novelist has just been awarded the Prix Jean Giono. Winter Warriors (Michel Lafon).

He was shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt and Renaudot. It is still shortlisted for the Interallié, to be announced on November 13, and the Goncourt des lycéens, to be awarded on November 28. But this Thursday, November 7, Olivier Norek was awarded the handsome Prix Jean Giono 2024 for Winter Warriors (published by Michel Lafon). He was up against some formidable rivals, including Camille Pascal, La Reine du labyrinthe (Robert Laffont) and Abel Quentin, Cabane ( The Observatory).

This literary award is sponsored by the Jean Michalski Foundation. The winner will receive a check for 10,000 euros. Olivier Norek succeeds Gaspard Koenigauthor of Humus (L’Observatoire). The Prix Jean Giono jury is made up of two members of the Goncourt academy: Paule Constant, president, and Tahar Ben Jelloun; and a member of the Renaudot jury: Franz Olivier Giesbert. They are joined by Vera Michalski, David Foenkinos, Robert Kopp, Emmanuelle Lambert, Étienne de Montety (director of Figaro littéraire), Marianne Payot, and Sylvie Giono, Jean Giono’s daughter, who is the soul of the prize.

Le Figaro was quick to point out Winter Warriors one of the must-read novels of the new literary season. A story amazing and gripping in the words of Bruno Corty in our August 28 issue. Norek, a retired policeman, was used to writing thrillers. With this new novel, he took a step to the side by delving into history: In Winter WarriorsThe author of Code 93, Dans la brume de Capelans, recounts a little-known episode of the Second World War. The invasion of Finland by its Russian neighbor in November 1939. For Stalin, the stakes were high not to let the mighty German army arrive at the gates of the Nordic countries. In his eyes, invading Finland, a small country that has only known independence since 1917, would be child’s play. The disproportion between the two armies in terms of numbers of men and equipment is laughable. But the Russian army is going to run into a bone: Simo Häyhä, a little guy but a hell of a sniper, defeating one of the biggest armies in the world against a tiny country.

The novel succeeds in the tour de force of pleasing readers – it is one of the best sellers – and juries for the major literary prizes. A victory in its own way, consecrated by the Prix Jean Giono.

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