Annie Ernaux
Facts
Annie Ernaux
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2022
Born: 1 September 1940, Lillebonne, France
Residence at the time of the award: France
Prize motivation: “for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory”
Language: French
Prize share: 1/1
Work
In her writing, Annie Ernaux consistently and from different angles, examines a life marked by strong disparities regarding gender, language and class. Her path to authorship was long and arduous. Among her novels are ‘A Man's Place’, ‘A Woman's Story’ and ‘Years’. Ernaux's work is uncompromising and written in plain language, scraped clean. And when she with great courage and clinical acuity reveals the agony of the experience of class, describing shame, humiliation, jealousy or inability to see who you are, she has achieved something admirable and enduring.
Book tips
Nobel Prizes and laureates
See them all presented here.