Press release
Wednesday, May 21, 2025
The French Academy of Medicine announces the names of the three finalists for its Literary Prize – 2025 Edition
The Literary Prize of the French Academy of Medicine, awarded for the fourth time, recognizes the literary merit of a book whose main themes include health disciplines and professions, illness, or the health of the body or soul. This prize may be a novel, a short story, or a non-fiction text. It excludes works of academic research in the fields of medicine or the history of medicine, as well as popular science works, unless they demonstrate a particularly original literary approach.
The prize recognizes a book in French, by a living author, published at the earliest the year preceding that of the competition. It does not include any financial contribution, but confers to the winner the title of Laureate of the French National Academy of Medicine.
This year, the jury—composed of several members of the French Academy of Medicine, the Deputy Permanent Secretary, the Deputy Director of its library, and the winner of the 2023 Literary Prize—had the pleasure of reading 21 candidate works.
After lively discussions, the jury selected three finalists for the 2025 Literary Prize of the French National Academy of Medicine :
Vous parler de mon fils (To Tell You About My Son), by Philippe Besson, Paris, Julliard, 2025
L’élu (The Elected), by Catherine Perreault, Paris, Philippe Rey, 2025
Le Chateau des Insensés (The Castle of Lunatics), by Paola Pigani, Paris, Liana Levi, 2024
The winner of the Literary Award of the French National Academy of Medicine will be announced on June 18, 2025
Press contact: Virginie Gustin @academie-medecine.fr 0662524342
French National Academy of Medicine: www.academie-medecine.fr
