PRESS RELEASE
The French National Academy of Medicine announces
the winner of its 2025 Literary Prize :
The Castle of the Insanes (Le Chateau des Insensés)
by Paola Pigani
Paris, June 30, 2025 – The French Academy of Medicine is honored to announce that the 2025 Literary Prize of the French Academy of Medicine has been awarded to the author Paola Pigani for her novel “The Castle of the Insanes”, published by LIANA LEVI, a masterful work that addresses the issue of psychological suffering and the evolution of psychiatry.
We are in 1939. Jeanne, whose baby dies at birth, is driven mad by pain. Interned in a psychiatric “asylum,” she endures brutal treatment, isolation, and screams that are usual there. Faced with the advance of German troops, Jeanne and the other asylum residents are transferred to Saint-Alban, in Lozère.
In this beautiful novel, Paola Pigani delicately describes several life trajectories :
Jeanne’s first, who will gradually relearn to love life. That of the Sister Superior, who records daily the castle’s significant events in her notebook. Also, those of doctors, François Tosquelles and Lucien Bonnafé, pioneers of an innovative psychiatric approach based on what will be called institutional psychotherapy.
Finally, the journeys of Auguste and Marguerite, two resident artists, leading figures of “Art Brut”, whose creations moved Paul Éluard.
Moreover, these doctors and patients will brave all risks and create a center of resistance to the occupier.
After evaluating 21 candidate works, the jury of the French Academy of Medicine was immediately captivated by the beautiful, powerful, and delicate writing of this novel. This institution is currently particularly sensitive to the vibrant evocation of psychological suffering and the necessary evolution of the psychiatry specialty.
