Nobel Prize for Literature goes to French author Anne Erno

French writer Anne Erno, who writes books on personal memory and social inequality, won the Nobel Prize for literature on Thursday.

Announcing the prize, the Swedish Academy said that Annie, 82, has consistently and from different angles examined a life characterized by inequality in terms of gender, language and class.

Anne, who won the 2022 prize for literature, is the first woman to receive the honor from France, saying that the award is a ‘responsibility’.

Annie told Swedish broadcaster SVT: ‘I am very surprised to win this prize. I never thought I would be given this in my career as a writer. It’s a huge responsibility.’

She has already said that writing is a political act that opens our eyes to social inequality.

The academy added: ‘To this end she uses language as a ‘knife’ as she calls it, tearing the veils of the imagination with her tongue.’

Anne’s first novel, Les Armoires Vides, was published in 1974, but she gained international recognition after the publication of her book Les Années in 2008. The book was translated into English in 2017 under the title ‘The Years’.

The Academy said of the book: ‘This book is Annie’s most ambitious work, earning her international fame, followers and literary disciples from around the world.’

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Born into a modest family in the northern French town of Normandy, Anne Erno wrote about social class in a clear, direct way.

He described in his books how he struggled to adapt to the norms and customs of the French class system in his working-class background.

Anders Olsen, a member of the Swedish Academy, told Reuters: “It’s a long journey that she takes in her life. She is a brave woman.’

Annie’s 2000 novel ‘Happening’ is about her experiences with abortion when it was illegal in France in the 1960s. The novel won the ‘Golden Line’ award at the Venice Film Festival in 2021.

Publisher Dan Simons said in a statement that the Swedish Academy recognized the bravery of a woman who writes openly about her sex life, women’s rights and her experience and sensitivities as a woman.

Former French Minister of Culture Rosaline Bachelet wrote on Twitter that ‘Anne is a writer who wrote an analytical style of autobiography. One may not agree with his political views but his powerful and dynamic work should be appreciated.’

This year’s list of candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature also included French writer Michel Hollibec, who gained international fame in 1998 with his novel ‘Atomized’.

Apart from them, Kenya’s Ngugi wa Thiongo, Canadian poet Ann Carson and India-born Salman Rushdie also participated in this race.

Rushdie, accused of ‘blasphemy’, was stabbed to death in New York state in August as he prepared to give a lecture. He was seriously injured in the attack. Last year, the Nobel Prize for Literature was won by Tanzanian novelist Abdul Razzak Gharnah.

Swedish dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel, who died on December 10, 1896, announced the award in his last will and testament.