Disqualification from the Goncourt longlist

The Académie Goncourt announced on 25 September 2026 that it removed the novel C'était ça ou mourir (It Was Either That or Die) by Haitian-Canadian author Thélyson Orélien from its prize selection. The Paris-based academy stated that the work was in all likelihood largely produced with artificial intelligence, basing its conclusion on converging analyses from researchers and journalists. The organization explained that the exclusion was necessary to protect the integrity of the Goncourt Prize and uphold its mission of honouring human literature. The academy also emphasized that it will not support texts created with the assistance of artificial intelligence in any form. Following the announcement, Orélien's promotional tour for the book was suspended across France.

“The point is to send a clear message, one that affirms that we neither endorse nor approve, in one way or another, the creation of texts generated by artificial intelligence.”

Social media allegations and detection tools

The controversy began when an account named Balance ton Claude on X posted claims that the novel had been generated by large language models such as Claude or ChatGPT. French essayist Samuel Fitoussi later stated that he ran the account alongside other unnamed individuals. The account based its claims on Pangram, an automated detection program that evaluates text against patterns found in machine-generated prose. Independent tests conducted by Agence France-Presse produced mixed results, ranging from an assessment of human writing to full artificial generation. Thierry Poibeau, a language processing specialist at the French CNRS research institute, noted that detectors identify stylistic markers such as three-clause phrasing and specific punctuation patterns. Max Spero, the chief executive of Pangram, noted that automated scores should serve as an initial indicator rather than a final verdict.

Author defense and plagiarism allegations

The 38-year-old author rejected the claims, stating that his text reflects the repetitive traditions of Haitian and Caribbean literature. His French publisher, Editions Grasset, defended the author by noting that he began writing the manuscript in 2017 and completed a draft in 2019, prior to the commercial release of modern generative tools. The book, which narrates a Haitian migrant's journey across Latin America to Canada, has been sold for translation into more than 20 languages. The controversy broadened after Canadian news outlet La Presse reported that earlier writings by Orélien contained plagiarized material. The report identified copied passages in a 2012 short story from French writer Louis Pauwels and in a 2013 opinion column from The Philippine Star.

“I didn't write this novel with my head, but with my guts and my heart.”

Prize schedule and selection process

The Goncourt Academy initially selected 16 novels for its 2026 longlist before removing Orélien's book from consideration. The jury announced that it will make no further public comments before publishing its second selection of eight novels on 6 October 2026. The selection panel will subsequently narrow the field to four finalists before naming the ultimate winner in Paris on 3 November 2026. Orélien had previously won the Fnac novel prize for the work during the French autumn publishing season. The novel is also scheduled for publication in Dutch under the title Het was vluchten of sterven by publishing house De Bezige Bij in January.

Initial longlist16

Second shortlist8

Finalists4

Winner1

Initial longlist

16 novels

Second shortlist

8 novels

Finalists

4 novels

Winner

1 novels

Data from the article text