- Swedish academy awards French writer Annie Ernaux. He has written above all autobiographical novels and several can be read in Euskera, including the novels 'Passion hutsa' and 'Gertatu'. The jury has rewarded the boldness and clinical accuracy of his work.
The jury has decided to reward Annie Ernaux for his “clinical determination to uncover the value and roots of individual memory, collective limits and gods.” Born in Lillebonn in 1940, he spent his childhood in the Norman town of Yvetot. In 1970 he published his first novel, Les Armoires vides (Empty Wardrobes), but the novel La Place (Leku), published in 1983, won the prestigious Renaudot Prize in 1984.
The Academy has emphasized that Ernaux analyzes life marked by gender, class and language differences from different perspectives. The jury of the Nobel Prize has also explained that the path taken by Ernaux for authorship has been long and hard.
Five novels by Ernaux can be read in Basque. Between 2002 and 2003, three translated by Joseba Urteaga were published: Book known as Pure Passion (Igela, 2002), Place cited above (Igela, 2003) and Done (Igela, 2003). Eight years later, Txalaparta published the book Emakume bat, translated by Itziar de Blas, focusing on the mother-daughter relationship, and Igelak in 2015 published Begira zenbat argi, maitea (Translation: Xabier Aranburu).
To date, the Swedish Academy has awarded 118 writers, of whom only 16 have been women. Most writers have been European or American. In recent years the Swedish academy is trying to correct these trends.