Hervé Le Tellier has won the 2020 Prix Goncourt, the most prestigious French book award, for his novel L'anomalie (The Anomaly), which "is set in 2021 on a flight between Paris and New York. The novel is narrated by 11 different passengers on the flight, including a part-time hit man and a Nigerian pop star," the Guardian reported.
Le Monde described the book as a page-turner that "flirts with being a thriller and science fiction" and keeps readers guessing with a "very efficient orchestration of suspense." While Le Tellier gets only €10 (about $12) for winning the Goncourt, the prize "guarantees renown and massive book sales. Previous winners... have seen novels rack up sales of 400,000 copies," the Guardian wrote.
The Anomaly's English translation will be published by Other Press in fall 2021. Publisher Judith Gurewich noted: "Hervé Le Tellier has been with Other Press for many years, and all his books share a love of humor, counterintuitive insights, and a style as crisp and luminous as a full moon on a beautiful night."
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No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram (S&S) by Sarah Frier won the £30,000 (about $39,715) Financial Times/McKinsey & Company Business Book of the Year Award, which recognizes a work that provides the "most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues." Each of the five runners-up receives £10,000 ($13,240).
Roula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times and chair of the panel of judges, said, "No Filter is a topical and well-reported account of the rise of Instagram and its takeover by Facebook. But it also tackles two vital issues of our age: how Big Tech treats smaller rivals and how social media companies are shaping the lives of a new generation."
Kevin Sneader, global managing partner, McKinsey & Company, commented: "Sarah Frier has written a compelling saga about how this start-up phenomenon deeply embedded itself into the global cultural Zeitgeist of this digital era, in just one decade after its creation."
In addition, Stephen Boyle was named winner of the £15,000 (about $19,860) Bracken Bower Prize, which is designed to encourage young authors to tackle emerging business themes in a proposal for a book that is not yet published. He won for his book proposal, New Money, "about how central bank digital currencies could transform the economy--and why you might not want them to."