Jaenada and Godard lead media favorites of the 2026 rentrée littéraire
A survey of 27 outlets by Livres Hebdo puts Philippe Jaenada and Anne Godard at the top of this autumn's most-praised titles, with French-language authors dominating the list.
Livres Hebdo has published its annual tally of media favorites for the rentrée littéraire, compiling mentions from 27 outlets across 166 titles cited at least once. Philippe Jaenada and Anne Godard come out on top of this year's ranking, according to the trade publication.
The list, Livres Hebdo notes, is dominated by French and French-speaking authors. It also echoes the shortlists already taking shape for the season's major literary prizes, with first-time novelist Thélyson Orélien appearing among the names favored by both critics and prize juries.
Livres Hebdo has not detailed, in the material available, which specific titles by Jaenada and Godard are drawing the attention, nor the full list of the 166 books counted. The survey serves mainly as an early temperature check on how the autumn's crop of new French-language fiction is landing with the press before the main prize announcements arrive in the coming weeks.
Sources
This article was written from these reports.
