1.
LV PLACE GAILLON
0.05

2.
CU STREET SIGN "RUE GAILLON"
0.07

3.
MV INTERIOR RESTAURANT DROUANT, CROWD OF JOURNALIST
0.12

4.
MV M. PHILIP HERIAT PUSHES WAY THROUGH REPORTERS
0.26

5.
CU DITTO ANNOUNCING PRIZE WINNER
0.37

6.
MV DITTO
0.42

7.
CU DITTO
0.47

8.
LV EXTERIOR BOOKSHOP
0.52

9.
CU PRIZE WINNING BOOK
0.56

10.
CU AUTHOR AND HIS WIFE
1.05

11.
MV PRESS AND AUTHOR
1.09

12.
MV AUTHOR AND HIS WIFE
1.15



Initials IT/V/SGM IT/JNT/V/PC



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: FRANCE'S TOP LITERARY PRIZE, THE PRIX GONCOURT, YESTERDAY (MONDAY) WAS AWARDED TO A 50-YEAR-OLD JOURNALIST, M. ARMAND LANOUX. FOR HIS NOVEL "QUAD LA MER SE RETIRE" ("WHEN THE SEA EBBS".) THE PRIZE ITSELF IS WORTH ONLY 50 FRANCS (ABOUT GBP4), BUT ENSURES IMMEDIATE BEST-SELLING SUCCESS FOR THE WINNER.

LANOUX, A LITERARY CRITIC TURNED AUTHOR, TIED WITH M. JEAN-MARIE LE CLEZIO, 23, WITH FIVE VOTES EACH. BUT THE JURY PRESIDENT, M. ROLAND DORGELES, GAVE LANOUX HIS CASTING VOTE.

HIS NOVEL, "QUAND LA MER SE RETIRE", DESCRIBES A PILGRIMAGE MADE IN NORMANDY BY A CANADIAN WHO FOUGHT IN THE ALLIED INVASION OF FRANCE IN 1944. LANOUX HAS SAID THAT THE MORAL OF HIS BOOK IS THAT "ANY WAR IS ATROCIOUS".

THE PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR, WHOSE FATHER DIED WHEN HE WAS 15, STARTED EARNING HIS LIVING BY DECORATING SWEET-BOX LIDS WITH PAINTED SCENES. HE WAS THEN A BANK CLERK, SALESMAN, AND TEACHER BEFORE BECOMING A NEWSPAPER AND LITERARY CRITIC. LANOUX, WHOSE EARLIER NOVELS HAVE ALREADY WON SEVERAL LITERARY PRIZES, HAS ALSO WRITTEN RADIO PLAYS AND SINCE 1958 HAS BEEN THE PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH TELEVISION COMMITTEE.