How to turn down a prestigious literary prize – a winner’s guide to etiquette

Following Joseph Andras’s surprise decision to turn down the Goncourt first novel prize, it’s time to weight up the pros and cons of rejecting a literary award

Two days after Joseph Andras’s De Nos Frères Blessés (which had not been on the shortlist of four) was astonishingly announced as the winner of the Goncourt first novel prize, French literati were stunned again this week when Andras turned it down because his “conception of literature is incompatible with the idea of a competition”. So the 2016 prize rejection season has at last begun: the following guide may be helpful to other potential refusers who need to know the options available.

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