Wepler Prize 2025: the 12 novels in the running

Now that the Goncourt and the Renaudot have announced their selections, it's time for a literary prize that champions originality. The Wepler, created in 1998 by the famous Abbesses bookseller Marie-Rose Guarniéri and supported by the La Poste Foundation and the Wepler brewery, aims to reward "an unclassifiable contemporary literary work" each year. It's worth noting that the jury rotates, which guarantees a certain freshness of spirit. Its list is in keeping with this, giving pride of place to newcomers and diversifying the publishing houses—none of them appear twice, which is a change from, by chance, the Renaudot, which cites Gallimard three times this year.

Among the notable writers, we find "Les Forces" (Sous-sol), Laura Vazquez's second novel in the form of a hallucinatory and fantastic Odyssey, also in the running for the December Prize . As is "Vertu et Rosalinde" by Anne Serre (Mercure de France), a portrait of a fluctuating narrator in 30 medallions. Already selected for the Goncourt Prize, "Tambora" by Hélène Laurain (Verdier) and "Un frère" by David Thomas (L'Olivier).

The jurors showed their attachment to first-time novelists, since three of them were chosen: Thibault Daelman, who has already made a name for himself with "L'entroubli" (Le Tripode) about a mother trying to raise five boys in a working-class neighborhood of Paris; Melvin Mélissa with "Une pieuvre au plafond" (Rivages) about marginalized people in Hauts-de-France; Damien Peynaud who explores the way we struggle in the shadows of industry and finance in "Les crédits" (Noir sur blanc).

The winner will be announced on Monday, November 10, during an evening at the famous brasserie on Place Clichy in Paris. At that time, we will know who will succeed Thomas Clerc for "Paris, Museum of the 21st Century: The Eighteenth Arrondissement" (Minuit) and Célestin de Meeûs for "Mythologie du.12" (Sous-Sol) and win the prize of 10,000 euros or 3,000 euros for the special mention.

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