Maxime Chattam
President of the New Blood Jury
Writer
Maxime Chattam has been writing since he learned to tell himself stories. A fan of Lovecraft and Stephen King, he nonetheless rose to fame with grounded thrillers, notably “The Trilogy of Evil.” His first fantasy novel, “The Fifth Reign,” won Best Fantasy Novel at the 2003 Gérardmer Festival.
He alternates between ultra-dark, fast-paced crime novels and more offbeat books, geopolitical or historical thrillers and fantasy adventures for young readers. In recent years, his early literary passions have returned to the fore with “The Signal” (2018) and “The Illusion” (2020), horror novels full of twists and turns.
A passionate cinema lover, he collects posters and films (over 8,000 in his library) and is currently creating a TV series for a French channel. He lives in the woods with his wife, children, dogs and cats, worships at the altar of playfulness (a staunch defender of role-playing games), watches American football every Sunday, and writes in a vast cabinet of curiosities lost somewhere near the end of the 19th century in the company of, among others, an Egyptian mummy, a six-foot tall stuffed werewolf and an entire collection of skulls…
His books have sold over 8 million copies in French, and have been translated in over 20 countries. His new novel, “The Constancy of the Predator,” was published by Albin Michel last November.