Created at the initiative of France and the United Kingdom during the Franco-British Summit of March 2023, and officially announced by Her Majesty Queen Camilla and Madame Brigitte Macron during the State Visit of King Charles III to France, the Entente Littéraire Prize draws inspiration from the Entente Cordiale of 1904 and celebrates the cultural dialogue between the two countries through literature and translation. The Prize aims to encourage the sharing of reading experiences between French and British audiences and to highlight the essential role played by translators in the circulation of stories, ideas and imaginations.
For this second edition, the Prize will recognise works of literary fiction whose translation was published between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2025. Two prizes of €8,000 will be awarded:
- one to a work originally written in French, translated into English and published in the United Kingdom;
- one to a work originally written in the United Kingdom, translated into French and published in France.
Each prize will be shared equally between the author and the translator, in recognition of the creative contribution of literary translation.
The Franco-British jury for this second edition is composed of two separate panels of three members each. The French panel will be chaired by writer Philippe Claudel, alongside Leïla Slimani and Augustin Trapenard. The British panel will be chaired by novelist and President of the Royal Society of Literature Elif Shafak, alongside Ken Follett and Hollie McNish.
Elif Shafak said: “Work in translation is of the utmost importance. When we read a book, for a few hours, for a few days, we journey into the existence of another human being. That is both an enriching and a humbling exercise for the human soul, and I think we need to make that journey as often as we can. I am delighted to work alongside this distinguished panel to celebrate writers and translators.”
Philippe Claudel said “Reading means reaching out to others, into their intimacy, their richness, their complexity, their difference. Reading means agreeing to look at things we can’t or don’t want to see, questioning ourselves, understanding that we are not alone, and that our opinions, our beliefs, our certainties can be challenged – for our own good, for the good of our humanity. And when reading transports us beyond our borders, beyond our culture or our language, the enrichment is all the greater. I am proud to be chairing this second Prix de l’Entente Littéraire: the word “entente” encompasses both the idea of listening and that of harmony. What could be more beautiful? Thank you to the authors and translators, those purveyors of words! Books unite us just as much as they mark us out. My faith in them is unshakeable.”
Each jury member will nominate two translated titles in their reading language in order to establish a longlist of twelve books: six titles translated from French into English selected by the British panel, and six titles translated from English into French selected by the French panel.
Members of each panel will read the books in translation before selecting a shortlist of six finalists — three in each category — to be announced in Autumn 2026.
The winners of the second edition of the Entente Littéraire Prize will be announced at a ceremony to be held in Paris in November 2026.
The Prize is organised by the Royal Society of Literature and the French Institute of the United Kingdom, in collaboration with the French Ministry of Culture, the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Embassy of France in the United Kingdom, and the British Embassy in France.
During its first edition, the Entente Littéraire Prize awarded Thieves by Lucie Bryon — who also translated her own work — and Le Livre bleu de Nebo by Manon Steffan Ros, translated from Welsh into French by Lise Garond. The winners were announced on 4 December 2024 during a ceremony held at the Residence of France in London in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Camilla and Madame Brigitte Macron.
Jury Biographies
French Panel
Philippe Claudel (Chair)
Philippe Claudel is a French novelist, screenwriter and academic. A graduate in modern literature and former lecturer in literature at the University of Lorraine, he is the author of a body of work translated into around forty languages. Les Âmes grises (Stock, 2003), winner of the Prix Renaudot, was translated into English as Grey Souls (Knopf). Le Rapport de Brodeck (Stock, 2007), winner of the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, was published in English as Brodeck’s Report (MacLehose Press). His debut feature film as director, I’ve Loved You So Long, starring Kristin Scott Thomas, received both the César Award for Best First Feature Film and the BAFTA for Best Film Not in the English Language, reflecting a body of work at the crossroads of French and British cultures. A member of the Académie Goncourt since 2012, he has served as its President since 2024. His latest novel, Wanted, was published by Stock in 2025.
Leïla Slimani
Leïla Slimani is a Franco-Moroccan novelist and journalist. Her novel Chanson douce (Gallimard) won the Prix Goncourt in 2016 and was translated into English as Lullaby (Faber & Faber), later adapted for cinema. She is also the author of Dans le jardin de l’ogre (Gallimard, 2014), translated as Adèle (Penguin), and of the Le Pays des autres trilogy (Gallimard), translated as The Country of Others (Penguin). Her books are translated worldwide. She was appointed Personal Representative of the President of the French Republic for the promotion of the French language and Francophonie, and chaired the International Booker Prize jury in 2023.
Augustin Trapenard
Augustin Trapenard is a journalist. Born in Paris in 1979, he spent part of his childhood in Wimbledon, England. A graduate of the École Normale Supérieure and holder of an agrégation in English, he taught English and American literature at the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon and focused his research on the works of Emily Brontë and the concept of authorship in the Victorian era. For eight years, he produced and presented the radio programme Boomerang on France Inter and worked for Canal+. For the past four years, he has presented La Grande Librairie on French public service television, the only prime-time programme entirely dedicated to literature and thought. An avid reader and promoter of literature, he is one of the most influential voices on the French literary landscape.
British Panel
Elif Shafak (Chair)
Elif Shafak is an award-winning British and Turkish novelist whose work has been translated into fifty-eight languages. Author of twenty-one books, including thirteen novels, she enjoys an international readership. Her novel The Island of Missing Trees (Viking), translated into French as L’Île aux arbres disparus (Flammarion), was shortlisted for the Costa Award, the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the RSL Ondaatje Prize. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World (Viking), translated into French as 10 minutes et 38 secondes dans ce monde étrange (Flammarion), was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The Forty Rules of Love (Soufi, mon amour) was selected among the BBC’s 100 Novels That Shaped Our World. President of the Royal Society of Literature, she has been awarded the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and the British Academy President’s Medal. Her next novel, In One Brief Moment All Eternity, will be published on 15 October.
Ken Follett
Ken Follett is one of the world’s most widely read authors, with more than 160 million copies sold across over 80 countries and 33 languages. His ties to France are deep and longstanding: following the success of Eye of the Needle (1978, Edgar Award winner), he settled with his family in the South of France to devote himself fully to writing, returning there every year since the 1970s. Much of his work draws on French history, including The Pillars of the Earth, inspired by the work of French medieval historian Jean Gimpel; World Without End, written in collaboration with historians from Mont-Saint-Michel; and A Column of Fire, which recounts the French Wars of Religion and the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. Following the Notre-Dame fire in 2019, he published a non-fiction work of the same name, donating all proceeds to the Fondation du Patrimoine for the cathedral’s restoration. Hugely popular among French readers, he was made Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and promoted to Officier de la Légion d’Honneur in November 2025. He became a French citizen on 13 November 2025. Ken Follett is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Hollie McNish
Hollie McNish is a bestselling British poet and author. Her collection Nobody Told Me, winner of the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry, was translated into French as Je souhaite seulement que tu fasses quelque chose de toi (Le Castor Astral). She has published several poetry collections, including Cherry Pie, Plum and Lobster, as well as an adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone. She performs her poetry internationally in English, French and Spanish. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
For press enquiries, contact
- Institut français du Royaume-Uni:
Natacha Antolini: +44(0)20 7871 3520 | natacha.antolini@institut-francais.org.uk - Royal Society of Literature:
+44(0)20 7845 4679 | press@rsliterature.org - British Embassy in France:
Hannah Swidrak: +33(0)6 1201 5698 | hannah.swidrak@fcdo.gov.uk