The Goncourt Prize, France's most prestigious literary award, has gone to Gilles Leroy for his novel Alabama Song, which "tells the tragic story of Zelda Fitzgerald in a series of first-person flashbacks," according to the Guardian.
Leroy told the press that he had not expected to win and was "still in
my garden yesterday, planting trees, perhaps a way of thinking about
something else."
The Renaudot Prize went to Daniel Pennac for his memoir, Chagrins d'École, which was even more of a surprise because it was not on the shortlist.