Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio

Biographical

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio

J. M. G. Le Clézio was born in 1940 in Nice, France. He is a descendent of a Breton family that emigrated in the 18th century to Mauritius. He completed his undergraduate studies at the Institut d’Études Littéraires in Nice and is a Doctor of Philosophy.

Despite his extensive travels, since the age of seven or eight J. M. G. Le Clézio has never stopped writing: poems, sagas, tales, short stories, of which nothing was published until Le Procès-verbal (The Interrogation), his first novel, appeared in print in September 1963, for which he received Le Prix Renaudot. In 1980 he received Le Grand Prix Paul-Morand from the French Academy for his novel Désert.

In 2008 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

From Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Prizes 2008, Editor Karl Grandin, [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 2009

This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and later published in the book series Les Prix Nobel/ Nobel Lectures/The Nobel Prizes. The information is sometimes updated with an addendum submitted by the Laureate.

Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 2008

To cite this section
MLA style: Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio – Biographical. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Tue. 3 Dec 2024. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2008/clezio/biographical/>

Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page

Nobel Prizes and laureates

Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.

See them all presented here.

Illustration

Explore prizes and laureates

Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize.