Philippe Vasset has won the 2026 Prix Médicis for Dans les grandes lignes, a Flammarion novel about crossing France while following high-voltage transmission lines. The 192-page book is priced at 21 euros.
The award was announced on Monday, November 2. The jury, chaired by novelist Pascale Roze and including Marie Darrieussecq, Anne Garréta and Andreï Makine, selected Vasset’s novel over six other shortlisted titles, all written by women.
Roze described Vasset as an author who travels through less conventional paths, this time moving from pylon to pylon beneath the power lines. She praised the book as fascinating, concrete, geographical, scientific, funny and poetic.
Vasset, 54, spent two years covering hundreds of kilometres from the Paris region while tracing France’s high-voltage network. In the book, he reflects on the rarity of seeing the large pylons up close, since they are usually viewed from a distance across fields and roads. He said he was especially pleased to receive recognition for what he called an improbable book, adding that his publisher had initially been doubtful about the project.
The Prix Médicis foreign novel award went to Spanish writer Eva Baltasar for Déclin et fascination, published by Verdier. Jean-Baptiste Del Amo received the prize for essays for Une éclaircie, while Richard Zenith was given a special award for Pessoa. L’œuvre-vie, his 1,280-page biography of the Portuguese writer.
As with the other major literary prizes, the Médicis jury did not retain Thélyson Orélien’s novel C’était ça ou mourir on its shortlist following accusations that much of the book had been written using artificial intelligence.
The 2025 Prix Médicis went to Emmanuel Carrère for Kolkhoze. This year’s award was announced ahead of the Goncourt and Renaudot prizes and two days before the Femina.
Sources: Le Monde Culture.