Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger
The Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger is a French literary prize created in 1948. It is awarded yearly in two categories: Novel and Essay for books translated into French. Since 2011, the prize has been supported by Sofitel, and the winners are traditionally announced and honored in November.
The prize aims to celebrate the richness and diversity of global literary voices and introduce French readers to exceptional works from around the world.
Prix du Meilleur livre étranger — Novel
- 2024: Hisham Matar, for My Friends as Mes amis.
- 2023: Sebastian Barry, for Old God's Time as Au bon vieux temps de Dieu.
- 2022: Juan Gabriel Vásquez, for Volver la vista atrás as Une rétrospective
- 2021: Guzel Yakhina, for Дети мои as Les enfants de la Volga.
- 2020: Colum McCann, for Apeirogon
- 2019ː Christoph Hein, for Glückskind mit Vater as L'ombre d'un père
- 2018ː Eduardo Halfon, for Duelo as Deuils
- 2017: Viet Thanh Nguyen, for The Sympathizer as Le Sympathisant
- 2016: Helen MacDonald, for H is for Hawk as M pour Mabel
- 2015: Martin Amis, for The Zone of Interest as La Zone d'intérêt
- 2014: Drago Jancar, for To noč sem jo viel as Cette nuit, je l’ai vue
- 2013: Alan Hollinghurst, for The Stranger's Child as L'Enfant de l'étranger
- 2012: A. B. Yehoshua, for The Retrospective as Rétrospective
- 2011: Alessandro Piperno, for Persecuzione. Il fuoco amico dei ricordi as Persécution
- 2010: Gonçalo M. Tavares, for Aprender a Rezar na Era da Técnica, as Apprendre à prier à l’ère de la technique, Viviane Hamy
- 2009: Karel Schoeman for Hierdie Lewe, as Cette vie, Phébus, Paris
- 2008: Charles Lewinsky, for Melnitz
- 2007: Joseph McBride, for Searching for John Ford
- 2006: Nicole Krauss, for The History of Love
- 2005: Colm Tóibín, for The Master
- 2004: Carlos Ruiz Zafón, for The Shadow of the Wind
- 2003: Peter Carey, for True History of the Kelly Gang
- 2002: Orhan Pamuk, for My Name is Red
- 2001: Per Olov Enquist, for The Visit of the Royal Physician
- 2000: Philip Roth, for American Pastoral
- 1999: Péter Nádas, for A Book of Memories
- 1998: Anna Maria Ortese, for The Lament of the Linnet
- 1997: António Lobo Antunes, for The Inquisitors' Manual
- 1996: Jonathan Coe, for What a Carve Up! as Testament à l'anglaise
- 1995: Joan Brady for Theory of War
- 1994: Graham Swift, for Ever After
- 1992: Jane Urquhart, for The Whirlpool as Niagara
- 1990: Tim O'Brien, for The Things They Carried as À propos du courage
- 1988: Margarita Karapanou, for The sleepwalker
- 1985: Salman Rushdie, for Shame as La Honte
- 1984: Vasily Grossman for Life and Fate
- 1983: Hector Bianciotti, for L'amour n'est pas aimé
- 1973: John Hawkes, for The Blood Oranges as Les Oranges de sang
- 1972: Fred Chappell, for Dagon as Dagon le dieu-poisson
- 1969: Gabriel García Márquez, for One Hundred Years of Solitude as Cent ans de solitude
- 1966: Peter Härtling, for Niembsch as Niembsch ou l'Immobilité
- 1965: John Updike, for The Centaur as Le Centaure
- 1956: Alejo Carpentier, for The Lost Steps/''Los pasos perdidos as Le Partage des eaux
- 1950: Miguel Ángel Asturias, for El Señor Presidente as Monsieur le Président''
Prix du Meilleur livre étranger — Essay
- 2024: Anna Funder, for The Invisible Madame Orwell as L'Invisible Madame Orwell.
- 2023: Chris De Stoop, for Het boek Daniël as Le Livre de Daniel.
- 2022: Maria Stepanova, for Памяти памяти as En mémoire de la mémoire.
- 2021: Kapka Kassabova, for To the Lake: A Balkan Journey of War and Escape as L'Écho du lac.
- 2020: Daniel Mendelsohn, for Trois anneaux. Un conte d’Exil
- 2019ː Wolframm Eilenberger, for Zeit der Zauberer as Le temps des magiciens
- 2018: Stefano Massini, for Qualcosa sui Lehman as Les Frères Lehman
- 2017: Philippe Sands, for East West Street. On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes against Humanity as Retour à Lemberg
- 2016: Samar Yazbek, for Bawwābaẗ arḍ al-ʿadam as Les Portes du néant
- 2015: Christoph Ransmayr, for Atlas eines ängstlichen Mannes as Atlas d'un homme inquiet
- 2014: Göran Rosenberg, for Une brève halte après Auschwitz
- 2013: Erwin Mortier, for Psaumes balbutiés. Livre d'heures de ma mère
- 2012: David Van Reybrouck, for Congo. Une histoire
- 2011: Marina Tsvetaeva, for Récits et essais
- 2010: Antonia Fraser, for Vous partez déjà ? Ma vie avec Harold Pinter
- 2009: Pascal Khoo Thwe, for Une odyssée birmane
- 2008: William T. Vollmann, for Pourquoi êtes-vous pauvres ?.
- 2006: Diane Middlebrook, for Ted Hughes & Sylvia Plath, histoire d'un mariage
- 2005: Mikhail Shishkin, for Dans les pas de Byron et Tolstoï
- 2004: Azar Nafisi, for Lire Lolita à Téhéran
- 2003: Hella S. Haasse, for La Récalcitrante
- 1999: W. G. Sebald, for Les Anneaux de Saturne
- 1998: Verena von der Heyden-Rynsch, for Écrire la vie, trois siècles de journaux intimes féminins
- 1996: Michael Holroyd, for Carrington
- 1993: Predrag Matvejević, for "Bréviaire Méditerranéen"
- 1977: Mario Praz, for La Chair, la mort et le diable
- 1974: Abram Tertz, for Une voix dans le chœur
- 1966: Jerzy Kosinski, for L'Oiseau bariolé
- 1965: John Cowper Powys, for Autobiographie
- 1964: Robert-Marie Grant, for La Gnose et les origines chrétiennes
- 1963: Oscar Lewis, for ''Les Enfants de Sanchez''