Annie Ernaux, author known for deeply personal books, wins Nobel Prize in literature
It’s a new chapter for French writer Annie Ernaux.
The author renowned for her deeply personal books became the 17th woman to receive the Nobel Prize in literature in the award’s 119-year history on Thursday.
“She writes about things that no one else writes about, for instance her abortion, her jealousy, her experiences as an abandoned lover and so forth,” said Anders Olsson of the Swedish Academy, the cultural institution that selects the laureates for the literature prize.
“I mean, really hard experiences. And she gives words for these experiences that are very simple and striking. They are short books, but they are really moving.”
French author Annie Ernaux adresses to media outside her home in Cergy-Pontoise, outside Paris, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022. 2022's Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to French author Annie Ernaux. (Michel Euler/)
Ernaux, 82, is the first French recipient of the honor since 2014. She has authored more than 20 books, many of which are autobiographical, beginning with “Cleaned Out” in 1974 and including her seminal “La Place” in 1983.
She described the Nobel Prize as “a great honor” and “a very great responsibility” to Sweden’s SVT network. The award comes with a nearly $900,000 prize.
Ernaux was selected “for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory,” the Swedish Academy said Thursday.
Her award comes in a category that’s received scrutiny for the frequency that male authors, as well as writers from North America and Europe, have been named the recipient.
“She is a wonderful writer and she has really renewed literature in many ways,” Olsson said of Ernaux.
Last year, Abdulrazak Gurnah became the sixth recipient from Africa to receive the literature honor.
On Wednesday, Carolyn R. Bertozzi and K. Barry Sharpless of the United States and Morten Meldal of Denmark won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work on how to make molecules connect.
Bertozzi described their research as “doing chemistry inside human patients to make sure that drugs go to the right place and stay away from the wrong place.”
With News Wire Services
