French Novelist Wins Nobel Prize In Literature

04:37

October 09, 2014

Patrick Modiano arrives for a press conference in Paris, on October 9, 2014, following the announcement of his Nobel Literature Prize earlier in the day. Modiano, a historical novelist haunted by France's painful experience of Nazi occupation and his own childhood wounds, won the Nobel Literature Prize today. (Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images)

Patrick Modiano has been awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature.

The Swedish Academy describes the French writer as “a well-known name in France but not anywhere else.”

Modiano was in the running against internationally well-known authors including the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, and American authors Philip Roth and Joyce Carol Oates.

NPR Books editor Petra Mayer joins Here & Now's Robin Young to talk about Modiano’s life, his work, and his unexpected win.

Guest

Petra Mayer, associate editor at NPR Books. She tweets @Petramatic.

This segment aired on October 9, 2014.