Nicolas Mathieu won France’s prestigious Goncourt book award on Wednesday for his novel, “Leurs enfants après eux”, a coming of age story that focuses on a group of adolescents in a fictional eastern French town in the early 1990s.
Mathieu, 40, said he was “thrilled” to have won the award for his novel, which is only his second published book.
The young author has described “Leurs enfants après eux” ["Their Children After Them"] in the past as an “educational novel, a novel about disillusionment”.
The other finalists for the award included French authors Paul Greveillac, David Diop and Thomas B. Reverdy.
Last year’s prize was awarded to Eric Vuillard for his World War II novel, “Order of the Day”.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)
