The Hôtel Belles Rives is a hotel located in Juan-les-Pins, a town in the Antibes region on the French Riviera. It is known for being the place where Francis Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald spent time with friends Gerald and Sara Murphy (and others famously part of the Lost Generation) in the Roaring Twenties.Letters from the Lost Generation: Gerald and Sara Murphy and Friends. University Press of Florida, 2002. 378p. .Gaignault, Fabrice. "Zelda et Francis Scott Fitzgerald: LES TIMBRÉS MAGNIFIQUES." Lire 527 (2024): 46-47. This is where F. Scott Fitzgerald began writing Tender is the Night.Stewart, Gail B. F. Scott Fitzgerald. Lucent Books, 1999. .
History The hotel was originally a villa known as the Villa Saint-Louis.Duhamel, P. (2021). Le tourisme : lecture sur le temps et enjeux contemporains. Cahiers français, 423(5), 16-26. https://doi.org/10.3917/cafr.423.0016. Thus is how it was known when the Fitzgeralds, the Murphys, and others like Ernest Hemingway spent time there.
In 1929, Boma Estène and his wife Simone acquired the Villa Saint-Louis and transformed it into a hotel. The Hôtel Belles Rives officially opened its doors in 1930, capturing the essence of the era with its Art Deco style. The hotel is owned through the Groupe Belles Rives established by the family of current owner Marianne Estène-Chauvin, the granddaughter of Boma and Simone Estène.
Prix Fitzgerald The Prix Fitzgerald was created in 2011 by Estène-Chauvin, the President of the Francis Scott Fitzgerald Academy whose family owned the Belles Rives since the 1930s. It is given to a writer of a book in the French language or translated into French from English. The author receives a check for five thousand euros. The winner also spends the night in Scott Fitzgerald's old room. The Francis Scott Fitzgerald Academy, presided over by Estène-Chauvin, presents the award annually since 2011; in 2018, the Prix Gatsby was inaugurated, then the Prix Zelda was added in 2021, both decided by the same jury and presented in the same event. The prize reached its 15th year in June 2026, a milestone marked by the ceremony at the hotel for the presentation of the award to the year's winner, Julian Barnes.
The Jury The winner is chosen by a jury that includes: Bertrand de Saint Vincent, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Le Figaro and president of the jury (journaliste) Marie-Dominique Lelièvre (journalist, novelist, biographer) Éric Neuhoff (novelist & journalist elected to the Académie française in 2025) (editor-in-chief, L'Obs) Frédéric Beigbeder (journalist, literary critic, television presenter) (journalist and novelist) Hélène Fillières (film director & actor)
Laureates, Prix Fitzgerald Julian Barnes (2026) for Departure(s) Richard Ford (2025) for Be Mine (A Fool's Paradise) Joyce Carol Oates (2024) for 48 Clues into the Disappearance of My Sister Quentin Tarantino (2023) for Cinema Speculation Nick Hornby (2022) for Just Like You Gianfranco Calligarich (2021)Scognamiglio, M. (2024). Le dernier été en ville. Gianfranco Calligarich Traduit par Laura Brignon, Gallimard, 2021, 224 p., 19 € Esprit, 152-153. https://doi.org/10.3917/espri.2405.0152. for Last Summer in the City William Boyd (2019) for Love is Blind Christopher Bollen (2018) for Beau Ravage Jay McInerney (2017) for Bright, Precious Days Julia Pierpont (2016) for Among the Ten Thousand Things Robert Goolrick (2015) for The Fall of Princes Whit Stillman (2014) for The Last Days of Disco Jeffrey Eugenides (2013) for The Marriage Plot Amor Towles (2012) for Rules of Civility Jonathan Dee (2011) for The Privileges
Laureates, Prix Gatsby Thadée Klossowski de Rola (2022) for Dreamed Life Nicolas Rey (2018)
Laureates, Prix Zelda Dominique Bona (2021) for Divine Jacqueline
External links Official website
References