The writer and academician, Jean-Marie Rouart has just been appointed president of the Interallié Prize jury. He succeeds Philippe Tesson, who died in February 2023. At the same time, we learn that Jean-René Van der Plaetsen, deputy editorial director of Figaro Magazine, is joining the jury in place of Serge Lentz, who died in December 2021 Jean-René Van der Plaetsen has also been a member of the Prix de Flore jury since its creation in 1994.
Member of the French Academy since 1997, Jean-Marie Rouart is a novelist, essayist and columnist. Born into a family of painters. He is the great-grandson of the painters Henri Rouart and Henry Lerolle. Alongside his activity as a writer, he has always pursued a career as a journalist which led him to the direction of Le Figaro littéraire from 1986 to 2003, then collaborated with Paris Match. In addition to his novels and essays, Rouart, author of Jean d’Ormesson’s Dictionary of Love, is known for having defended Omar Raddad, the fight of a lifetime. He had written the book, Omar, the making of an injustice, which was adapted for the cinema. Rewarded on numerous occasions, Jean-Marie Rouart is the winner of the Prix Interallié and the Prix Renaudot.
In 2017, Jean-René Van der Plaetsen was awarded the Interallié Prize for his first novel, La nostalgie de l’honneur, a book which also received the Jean-Giono Prize, the Army Literary Prize- Erwan Bergot, the New Union Circle Prize. His second title, The job of dying, won the Renaudot for high school students.
Under the leadership of Jean-Marie Rouart, the Interallié Prize jury is now made up of Stéphane Denis, Jacques Duquesne, Gilles Martin-Chauffier, Éric Neuhoff, Christophe Ono-dit-Biot, Jean-Christophe Rufin, Jean-René Van der Plaetsen and Florian Zeller. The winner of the previous year participates in the jury for the current edition. Last year, it was Philibert Humm for Roman Fleuve (Éditions de Equateurs) who had the honor of the prestigious literary award.
The Interallié prize is one of the major literary awards of the fall. It was founded on December 3, 1930 by around thirty journalists who lunched at the Cercle de l’Union interalliée in Paris, while awaiting the deliberations of the ladies of the jury for the Prix Femina. It is awarded in mid-November after the other awards, at the Parisian restaurant Lasserre.
