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UPDATE: Garlands for Ernaux, winner of 2022 Nobel Prize for Literature

Ernaux toes the line of another French writer, Patrick Modiano who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2014. She is the 16th French author to win the coveted Prize for Literature.

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Annie Ernaux

“Winning the Nobel Prize at the age Ernaux did eloquently buttresses the belief that it is never too late for anyone to realize his or her dreams”

82-Year-Old French writer, Annie Ernaux has once again demonstrated the validity of the axiom: “age is no barrier to success as she wins the coveted prize at an age that many give up on life, believing that they have done the most they could and are now waiting for death to take their final bow from the world.

The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Lille Bonne, France-born author in recognition of her bravery and novelty in exposing the origins and societal limits of individual memory, following a keen contest with other literary giants across the globe. Aside being a popular French writer, the novelist is famous for writing realistic stories, exploring the daily lifestyle of a typical French national.

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Anders Olsson, Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Literature, commended the octogenarian shortly after the official announcement, saying she is a remarkable writer who has reinvented literature in many ways. Ernaux’s writings feature elements of her roots in French culture and the cumulative wealth of experiences she has garnered through the various phases of life. Winning the Nobel Prize at the age Ernaux did eloquently buttresses the belief that it is never too late for anyone to realize his or her dreams.

Despite her old age, the Nobel Laureate is reputed to be a remarkable writer whose strong prose portrays country life in a burgeoning society that ironically still reflects the age-long conflict between the poor and the rich.

Citing instances of novel innovations in Ernaux’s novel, La Place in French, Anders Olsson remarked: “It is a short, but wonderful portrait of a father. It is very, very sensitive, and concise, it is sometimes a very loving picture. She also recovers the special commendations he deserves and she can also be very critical in her observations and that is special for her.”  Anders also observed that Ernaux is a genius who has reinvented literature in many ways. “She has roots in French culture and legacy, which supports and may comfort the wealth of her experiences from childhood and other life stages, and that is something that is extremely significant to her,” she said. The professor is also known for her ingenuity in recreating personal life experiences in her works.

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Describing a risky abortion she had in 1963 when the practice was illegal in France, she says in her book, “Happening”:

“There were thousands who had been through secret abortions, I wanted to recreate the truth of it exactly as it was in the moment. In 1963, when it happened to me, it was unthinkable to imagine abortion would one day be authorized, doctors wouldn’t even say the word.”

Ernaux toes the line of another French writer, Patrick Modiano who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2014. She is the 16th French author to win the coveted Prize for Literature.

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Ernaux has over 20 books to her credit. Her notable works include: Les armoires vides (1974), published in in French and English as Cleaned Out, Una Donna, Happening and La Place (A Man’s Place). The Professor of Literature at the Centre National d’Enseignement par Correspondance has won several literary awards and got nomination for others like the Prix Renaudot (2008) for her autobiography, The Years, which was also shortlisted for the 2019 Man Booker International Award.

Besides being shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize for many years, Ernaux’s book, “Una Donna” received the 2019 Premio Gregor von Rezzori.

Others that came close to winning the 2022 Nobel Prize for Literature include the author of the controversial novel, “Satanic Verses”, the Indian-born, British-American, Salman Rushdie; Kenyan James Ngugi Wa Thiong’o; Japanese Haruki Murakami; Norwegian Jon Fosse, and Antigua-born Jamaica Kincaid. If the 75-Year-Old Rushdie had won, he would have been the second Indian to do so since 1913 when it was won by Rabindranath Tagore with the entry, Gitanjali.

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