When I heard that Annie Ernaux was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature I was ashamed and embarrassed that I hadn’t read any of her work and immediately went to my library app to borrow her books.
Many readers must have felt the same way as I found all her books ‘on hold’.
She won for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory
Annie Thérèse Blanche Ernaux was born September 1st, 1940, in Normandy and her parents ran a café and grocery in a working-class part of town. More of her biography here.
My dad was born just a year earlier and yearned to write memoirs as well. Perhaps another reason why I’m drawn to this genre.
Annie is 82 now and she is known for her memoirs (slices of her own life), something I’ve been interested in all my life (being drawn to the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder as a kid) and even more so after crossing the golden age of 50. Well into it now.
I of course, will be reading the translated versions, but wish I had the ability to read the originals.