The 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to French writer Annie Ernaux on October 6, 2022, at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. Annie Ernaux won the prestigious prize “for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory”, the Nobel Prize committee said.
‘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,’ reads a statement about the author on Nobel Prize’s website.
Annie Ernaux was born in 1940. She grew up in the small town Yvetot in Normandy, northern France, where her parents ran a grocery store and a café. ‘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,’ reads a statement by Anders Olsson, Chairman- Nobel Committee at The Swedish Academy, as per Nobel Prize’s website. Some of her notable works include: Les armoires vides (1974; Cleaned Out, 1990), Une femme (1987; A Woman’s Story, 1990), La honte (1996; Shame, 1998), L’événement (2000; Happening, 2001), among others.
17th woman author to receive the prestigious award
Since 1901, 115 Nobel Prizes in Literature have been awarded to writers from all over the world for their outstanding contributions to literature. So far, only 17 women authors have been awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. Author Annie Ernaux, this year’s winner, became the 17th woman author to receive the prestigious award.
Abdulrazak Gurnah, a Tanzanian-born novelist living in the United Kingdom, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2021. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for his uncompromising and compassionate exploration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee across cultures and continents.”