French writer Annie Ernaux won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2022 "for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory”. However, the author recently revealed at an event that she never wanted to win the award. She further revealed that since winning the Nobel Prize, she has experienced "enormous disruption" as she is unable to focus on her writings with all the unwanted fame and attention.
Ernaux was talking to international bestselling author Sally Rooney, through an interpreter, at the Charleston festival.
“So I’m going to be brutal and say that I obtained a prize I never wanted. The Nobel prize fell upon me. It fell into my life like a bomb. It was an enormous disruption; since winning it, I cannot write and the act of the writing was always my future. And so, to not be able to look forward to writing, is actually really painful to me," Ernaux said, as reported by The Guardian.
However, Ernaux added that she is grateful to win the Nobel Prize. "Yes, it’s a great recognition, a recognition of my work – I’ve been writing for 40 years. What touches me is not the prize itself, but my conversations with people – when they say to me that they see themselves when they read my work. It’s the feeling that the prize does not just belong to me, but to all of us; that matters to me," she said, reported The Guardian.
Annie Ernaux was born on September 1, 1940, and she writes in French. Her writings, though a work of fiction are mostly autobiographical and inspired from her own experiences. She has written 20 books, including 'A Man's Place', 'Years', and 'A Woman's Story' among others.
