Camille Laurens
A graduate of humanities, Camille Laurens taught in Rouen in Normandy. In 1984, she began teaching in Morocco, where she spent twelve years. Since September 2011, she has taught at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). Between 2007 and 2019, she was a member of the jury for the Prix Femina. She had been a member of the Académie Goncourt since 11 February 2020. In September 2021, the Prix Goncourt attracted controversy after the jury decided, by a vote of 7 to 3, to include "Les enfants de Cadillac" by François Noudelmann on its 2021 list of finalists. Laurens, who is a member of the prize's jury, is the partner of Noudelmann. Laurens voted in favor of her partner's book. It also emerged that shortly after the shortlist was revealed Laurens had written a negative review in "Le Monde" of one of Noudelmann's competitors for the prize, "La Carte postale" by Anne Berest. France Inter, who first revealed the conflict of interest, described her review as containing "unheard-of brutality". Laurens defended herself, saying that she wrote the review before the Goncourt selected its finalists. She also claimed she was being attacked for being a woman and not on the substance of her arguments in the review. However, historian Jean-Yves Mollier said, "She straight-out assassinated one of the candidates." In October 2021, the Académie Goncourt ultimately decided that it will no longer allow lovers and family members of the jury to be entered for consideration.
Career
Laurens is a member of the Académie Goncourt.