Regarded as the Holy Grail for printers since it alone brings more than 350?000 sales per award-winning book and therefore as many reprints, the Prix Goncourt has once again met with great success among readers in 2020. A success that even exceeded all expectations, since no fewer than 800?000 copies were ordered from the printer Normandie Roto Impression in Lonrai in the Orne region of France. The winner of the 2020 edition is the writer Hervé Le Tellier for his novel The Anomaly published by Gallimard.
The second biggest draw in the history of the Goncourt
Interviewed by the newspaper L'Orne Hebdo the director of Normandie Roto Christophe Pillon states that it is the "Big draw in the history of the Goncourt since Marguerite Duras' L'Amant, which still holds the record." . Among the various reasons put forward to explain this success, in addition to the quality of the work, Christophe Pillon reminds the weekly that "the book experienced a surge in consumption in the second half of 2020." and "that the book was also one of the last accessible cultural vehicles."
At the announcement of the prize, postponed this year to 30 November because of the confinement, half of the plant mobilized for the Goncourt day and night to reach a rate of 70?000 impressions per day. In addition to printing, the jackets and strips must be put on each book, which requires the mobilization of staff.
Normandie Roto is accustomed to literary prizes and the Prix Goncourt. In particular, she has printed the famous prize four years in a row, between 2015 and 2018. Every year, the printing house shares the awards with the two other major book printers Floch and CPI.
