Goncourt Academy Removes Novel From Prize List Amid AI and Plagiarism Claims

Thélyson Orélien’s acclaimed novel is no longer in contention for the Goncourt prize. The Académie Goncourt removed C’était ça ou mourir from its longlist on Friday, citing plagiarism allegations and analyses it says indicate that much of the book was generated by AI. Orélien denies using AI, and the software results that helped ignite the dispute conflict.

A celebrated book loses its place

Published in France by Grasset in August, the novel had sold about 35,000 copies. It won the Prix du roman Fnac, and translation rights have been sold in more than 20 countries. Those achievements put the withdrawal in sharp relief: the academy removed a book that had already reached readers and won another literary award.

The book follows a history and geography teacher fleeing gang violence in his home country. Told in the first person, it traces his journey across 12 countries before he finds refuge in Canada. Orélien has defended the writing as his own, saying its imagery, repetition and rhythm draw on Haitian and Caribbean language traditions.

The claims behind the withdrawal

The AI allegation surfaced on X on September 21, the day the novel won the Fnac prize. An account posting anonymously said it had run the book through Pangram and received a result indicating that it was “almost entirely” AI-written. Other detection programs used by French media identified the novel as very probably human-written. The competing results leave the software tests in dispute, not as a settled answer about authorship.

On Wednesday, the academy’s president, Philippe Claudel, urged caution. French media then published separate plagiarism allegations, including a claim by Libération that Orélien had copied an award-winning short story from the preface of Louis Pauwels’ The Morning of the Magicians. The academy’s Friday statement went further: it referred to plagiarism it said had been revealed and to analyses by researchers and journalists suggesting the novel was very largely AI-generated.

Orélien and his publisher push back

Orélien says he did not use AI and has called the accusation racially motivated. Speaking at a literary festival on Thursday, he said he felt the attacks were aimed not just at the book but at his voice. He said he would step back until things calmed down. He has said he will not comment further on the latest allegations.

Boréal, the novel’s original publisher, said it could not confirm or deny the allegations and warned against jumping to conclusions without credible, concrete evidence. It said it was concerned about the newer plagiarism claims. It also condemned hateful messages and personal attacks directed at the author, asking people to show restraint.

The academy says it acted to protect the prize’s integrity and to honour literature written by people. Its shortlist is due October 6, with the winner scheduled to be announced November 4. The decision has already taken effect; the disagreement over how the book was written has not been resolved between the academy, the author and his publisher.