“The Paris literary scene was shaken yesterday when the government’s anti-corruption watchdog warned that France’s most prestigious book prizes were wide open to corruption,” according to a Guardian report by Jon Henley. Henley says, “France’s major literary awards such as the Prix Femina, the Prix Médicis and — most prestigious of all — the Prix Goncourt have long been accused of rigging their votes, taking it in turns to reward big publishers.” Now, the SCPA, which Henley identifies only as “part of the justice ministry,” has issued what is apparently an internal report (that was in turn apparently leaked to the newspaper Le Parisien) saying it is “difficult to distinguish between jury members, who are generally the authors of literary works, and the houses which publish their books. There is a risk that fair competition rules may be being broken.” One anonymous independent publisher tells Henley, “When you realise the millions of euros that a good Goncourt winner can generate for its publisher, you start to see the immorality of the whole thing. French publishing, and particularly the whole prize charade, is all about mutual back-scratching.”