[Archive 2008-10-09] French author Le Clézio wins the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature

Historical archive — originally published 2008-10-09. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

French writer Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio has been awarded by the Swedish Academy with the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature. Le Clézio thus wins the prestigious prize of 10 million Swedish krona (US$1.4 million), for being "an author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, an explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilisation," according to the Academy.

His first book, Le Procès-verbal, was published in 1963, when the novelist was 23 years old. Now, aged 68, he receives the Nobel Prize in Literature being recognised as a key figure of French literature.

The writer, now a juror of the Prix Renaudot, wrote pieces such as La Fièvre, L'Extase matérielle, Terra amata, Le Livre des fuites, La Guerre, Désert and Le Chercheur d'or.

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