Former literary director at Grasset, Manuel Carcassonne, who took over the reins of Stock Publishing three years ago, reaps the fruits of his energy and his faith in the service of an eclectic and classic editorial policy, Appointments:
"At the beginning of the seventh day" by Luc Lang in competition for the Prix Goncourt and Prix Fémina, Bronson by Arnaud Sagnard for the Prix Médicis and finally Anthracite by Cédric Gras for the Prix de Flore.

Literary prizes are both important and derisory

• Désirée de Lamarzelle: Does a literary prize, like the Goncourt, follow and resemble each other?

Manuel Carcassonne: I think it changes according to the books that are presented in every literary season. There are trends, for example, last year, the theme of the Middle East: I think of Mathias Enard's Boussole or Tobie Nathan whose story takes place in Egypt. It is the work that makes the price. Publishers are attentive to the times and are well informed: if there is something very strong politically they will know and will probably take it into account.

• What was your strongest memory of a literary prize?

A memory a little distant which is the Prix Renaudot of Virginie Despentes (2010). Because I was his editor at Grasset and that in the context of our debut with Virginie, it was difficult to think that it would have a literary consecration. This Renaudot prize was a great success. I was very happy. This is an important date for me. And this price has really changed its image.

Not to mention the awards this year, two years ago Stock editions won the Grand Prix of the Académie Française for Constellation by Adrien Bosc. A consecration in every sense of the term because it was a first novel, it was an absolute unknown, a lot of copies were sold. This prize was a very nice surprise, which in addition crowned a young author.

After the prices are both important and derisory. They are important because it is a marker that one needs as a literature publisher in a very difficult market. It's part of a tradition. A price in itself generates sales but does not absolve it from everything. The award-winning book is not self-sufficient, it must meet its audience.

Manuel Carcassonne by jean François Paga Stock

• In your opinion, why did only 10% of women get the Goncourt Prize?

I think we should refer to Goncourt with an ancient system in which there were more men than women who wrote. And then as the years and literary seasons grew, women became more and more numerous. It is a woman who had it last year.

• Fewer women dared to be a writer?

If of course they dared! But for a very long time women did not have the social possibility of being at peace to write, but under the social constraint of the children to raise, household tasks to manage ... But now women writers are numerous. Nevertheless when you look at the price this year, you already have two women.

• Is it because of the prize, the publishers, or the women?

The editors are the opposite! They are publishing more and more women, I think the parity is respected at Stock. And then there are male books that talk about women. I think today the publishers today no longer ask the question of the sex of the author, and if they pose it I think it plays clearly in favor of women. There are many more readers than readers.

• What is an outsider in nominations for a literary award?

In the language of the literary world it is someone whose biography, work, or bibliography, life, does not predispose him to obtain a literary consecration. Which in my opinion is silly. An outsider leaves with a handicap, which can sometimes turn into an asset. In the case of Toby Nathan (author of This country that resembles you, nominated to the Goncourt 2015) it is its specificity of ethnopsychiatre that makes him an "outsider".

This man, for 40 years, is in charge of a psychiatric center, where we treat, receive and consult people who come for psychiatric, psychoanalytic or psychological reasons. Ethopsychiatry has become a genre, a mode of care, in which Tobie Nathan is recognized as the principal teacher. In this particular case, the outsider is someone who lives out of the literary milieu, who does different things.

• How to rebound when the appointment fails? How do you get to success?

To take the example of Goncourt, something happens only if we are on the latest list of nominees (Tobie Nathan with This country that resembles you). This can trigger the press but also the more sustained attention of booksellers who can put forward and even order the books in question. The bookshops are probably more interested. And we try to accompany this "Goncourt effect" until the end of the year with signatures, travel, press ...