Une conversation
coauthored interview · First published 2023
Author guide
Annie Ernaux Books in Order
Annie Ernaux was born in Lillebonne, Normandy, in 1940 and grew up in Yvetot. A former literature teacher, she began publishing with Les Armoires vides in 1974 and developed a distinctive form of autobiographical writing combining personal memory with social history and ethnographic observation. Her major works include La Place, Une femme, Les Années, and Mémoire de fille. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2022 for her writing about the roots and collective constraints of personal memory.
autobiographical fictionmemoirliterary nonfictiondiaryessaysinterviews
Catalog record updated .
Annie Ernaux's Newest Book
Not sure where to begin?
Start with one of these
La Place
A concise and representative introduction to Ernaux’s method of linking family memory, class, and social history.
Passion simple
A short, accessible entry into her direct treatment of desire, intimacy, and emotional experience.
Les Années
A panoramic work that connects personal memory with the social and historical experience of postwar France.
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Novels (3)
- Les Armoires vides
novel · 1974
- Ce qu’ils disent ou rien
novel · 1977
- La Femme gelée
novel · 1981
Elle a trente ans, elle est professeur, mariée à un "cadre", mère de deux enfants. Elle habite un appartement agréable. Pourtant, c'est une femme gelée. C'est-à-dire que, comme des milliers d'autres femmes, elle a senti l'élan, la…
Nonfiction (15)
- La Place
memoir · 1983
A fragmented and largely retrospective description of a daughter's relationship with her father, "La Place" deals with issues of sexuality, social sta nding and alienation. This will be an accessible and exciting addition to French…
- Une femme
memoir · 1987
Annie Ernaux s'efforce ici de retrouver les différents visages et la vie de sa mère, morte le 7 avril 1986, au terme d'une maladie qui avait détruit sa mémoire et son intégrité intellectuelle et physique. Elle, si active, si ouverte au…
- Passion simple
memoir · 1991
- Journal du dehors
journal · 1993
- La Honte
memoir · 1997
- Je ne suis pas sortie de ma nuit
diary · 1997
"An evocation of a grown daughter's close attachment to her mother, and of both women's strength and resiliency, "I Remain in Darkness" recounts Annie's attempts first to help her mother recover from Alzheimer's disease, and then, when…
- La Vie extérieure
journal · 2000
- L’Événement
memoir · 2000
- Se perdre
diary · 2001
"Available in English for the first time, the latest astonishing, bestselling, and award-winning book by Annie Ernaux. The Years is a personal narrative of the period 1941 to 2006 told through the lens of memory, impressions past and…
- L’Occupation
memoir · 2002
- Les Années
memoir · 2008
- L’Autre Fille
memoir · 2011
- Regarde les lumières, mon amour
journal · 2014
Pendant un an Annie Ernaux a tenu le journal de ses visites dans un hypermarché Auchan. On redécouvre à ses côtés le monde de la grande surface. Loin de se résumer à la corvée des courses, celle-ci prend dans ce livre un autre visage :…
- Mémoire de fille
memoir · 2016
- Le Jeune homme
memoir · 2022
Frankreich, 1990er: Annie beginnt eine Liaison mit einem jungen Mann: fast dreißig Jahre jünger als sie. A. wohnt in Rouen, die Stadt, in der sie selbst in den 1960er Jahren studiert hat und erlebt dort das jugendlich Provisorische ihrer…
Essays and speeches (2)
- Retour à Yvetot
lecture and memoir · 2013
110 Seiten liniert, perfekt als Notizbuch, Notizheft, Zeichenblock, Skizzenbuch, Reisetagebuch, Tagebuch, Travel Journal oder Notizblock für Beer Pong Spieler. Schönes Cover, Geschenkidee, perfekt als Ideenbuch um Notizen festzuhalten.…
- Monsieur le Président
pamphlet · 2020
Collaborations (2)
- L’Usage de la photo
coauthored photo-text · 2005
- Une conversation
coauthored interview · 2023
Other (4)
- L’écriture comme un couteau
interview · 2003
- L’Atelier noir
writer’s notebook · 2011
- Le Vrai lieu
interview · 2014
- Hôtel Casanova et autres textes brefs
short-text collection · 2020
Frequently asked questions about Annie Ernaux
What is Annie Ernaux best known for?
Annie Ernaux is best known for autobiographical and sociological writing that turns personal memory into an examination of class, gender, language, and collective experience. Her spare, plain style is a defining feature of her work.
Where was Annie Ernaux born, and what was her childhood like?
She was born in Lillebonne, France, in 1940, and grew up in Yvetot, Normandy. Her parents ran a small café-grocery, and the tension between her working-class origins and later education became central to her perspective as a writer.
Did Annie Ernaux work as a teacher?
Yes. After studying modern literature and earning the agrégation, she taught literature for many years while writing, and she retired from teaching in 2000.
What influenced Annie Ernaux’s writing?
Reading was encouraged by her mother and shaped her childhood; Ernaux has also identified Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex as a revelation. Nobel materials further note the influence of Marcel Proust and sociologist Pierre Bourdieu on her memory work.
Sources: nobelprize.org (opens in a new tab)nobelprize.org (opens in a new tab)nobelprize.org (opens in a new tab)
What award did Annie Ernaux win, and what is her literary legacy?
She won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements, and collective restraints of personal memory. Nobel’s account presents her as an author who expanded autobiographical writing toward a form of collective autobiography, connecting individual life with social history.
Sources: nobelprize.org (opens in a new tab)nobelprize.org (opens in a new tab)