Annie Ernaux was born on September 1, 1940, in Lillebonne, Normandy, France. She grew up in the nearby town of Yvetot, where her parents, Alphonse and Blanche (Dumenil) Duchesne, ran a grocery and cafe in a working-class neighborhood. Ernaux's upbringing and experiences in this environment would later become significant themes in her writing.
Annie Ernaux is widely regarded as one of France's most important writers, with a body of work that includes some twenty fiction and memoir pieces. In 2022, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for her contributions to literature. Ernaux has received numerous other accolades for her writing, including the Prix Renaudot for "A Man's Place" and the Marguerite Yourcenar Prize for her overall body of work. Some of her other notable works include "The Years," "Getting Lost," "Exteriors," "A Girl's Story," "A Woman's Story," "The Possession," "Simple Passion," "Happening," "I Remain in Darkness," "Shame," "A Frozen Woman," and "A Man's Place." In recent years, Ernaux has also been honored with the International Strega Prize, the Prix Formentor, the French-American Translation Prize, and the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation for "The Years." The novel was also shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2019.