A public figure in academia and the media, Frenchman Gilles Kepel, winner of the 2025 Grosso d’Oro Veneziano Prize, is considered one of the world’s leading experts on the Arab world and the politics of Islam. This sociologist and political scientist, now in his seventies, has studied the ideological and religious structure of Islamic radicalism in depth, urging the West to take on the complicated task of healing the deep rifts that divide the Mediterranean, in aid of a common future based on adherence to democratic values.
A lecturer at the Institut d’Études Politiques in Paris until 2023, Kepel has been living under police protection since 2017. In his recent essay, Holocausts, he sees the massacre carried out by Hamas on 7 October 2023 and Israel’s reaction in Gaza as tragic acts in the ongoing reframing of the international balance of power.
Honored with the Grosso D’Oro Veneziano award for his unfaltering commitment to promoting understanding between cultures, religions and civilizations; for his lucid and profound analysis of phenomena that threaten social cohesion and peace; for placing knowledge at the service of dialogue and truth, offering precious tools for a coexistence based on respect and listening.
e sull’ascolto.
