French writer Annie Ernaux wins 2022 Nobel Prize in literature

STOCKHOLM – The Nobel Prize in Literature 2022 was awarded to a French author, Annie Ernaux, "for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory".

Mats Malm, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, on Thursday announced the prestigious prize for Ernaux.

In her writing, 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.

The Swedish academy has so far awarded 115 Nobel Prizes in Literature since 1901, with Rudyard Kipling, best known for The Jungle Book, is the youngest literature laureate ever.

The writing debut of Annie Ernaux, who was born in 1940, was ‘Les armoires’ vides (1974; ‘Cleaned Out’, 1990), and already in this work she started her investigation of her Norman background, but it was her fourth book, ‘La place’ (1983; ‘A Man’s Place’, 1992), that delivered her literary breakthrough.

A masterpiece from her production is the clinically restrained narrative about a 23-year-old narrator’s illegal abortion, ‘L’événement’ (2000; ‘Happening’, 2001).