Éliane Taïeb (December 7, 1929 - September 3, 1985), née Grimaître, was a French science fiction writer who published under the pen names Gilles Thomas and Julia Verlanger.[1] [2]
Apart from a cycle of three post-apocalyptic novels (L'autoroute sauvage, La mort en billes and L'île brûlée), all Gilles Thomas' novels take place in a fictional universe where humanity is no longer restricted to the Earth as its only habitat. This has been described as a "History of the future beneath the surface" by French science fiction scholar André-François Ruaud ("Histoire du Futur en filigrane") because, while almost no allusions are made to the process which led man to conquer other planets in Thomas' novels, the galactic backdrop remains ever present even on a medieval world.
The, run by the Fondation de France, is awarded annually to a science fiction work of adventure, fantasy or fantastique. Created by her husband after her death, it is awarded by a jury of which he was the president until his death. The current president is Sara Doke.
The most recent books to receive the prize are
The novel Les cages de Beltem by Gilles Thomas received the Prix Julia Verlanger in 1996. The decision to award a prize named for one of Éliane Taïeb's pen names (under which name she published La flûte de verre froid) to a novel by her other pseudonym was taken by the jury because of the lack of quality of the works published in that year in the eligible categories.