“Versions of Reality: Four Talks by Acclaimed French Writers” - Mathias Enard

Event time: 
Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - 4:00pm
Event description: 

A Talk about his latest book, Compass - IN ENGLISH

Romance Language Lounge, 82-90 Wall Street, 3rd Floor

Event co-sponsored by the Book Department at the Cultural Services of the French Embassy

Mathias Énard, French novelist and translator, studied contemporary art at École du Louvre and Persian and Arabic at INALCO and spent some years in Egypt, Lebanon, Iran and Syria. His career as a writer began in 2003 with his first novel, La perfection du tir, which was awarded the Prix des cinq continents de la Francophonie. He has also won several awards for his 2008 novel Zone, including the Prix du Livre Inter and the prestigious Prix Décembre. His Parle-leur de batailles, de rois et d’éléphants (2010) won the Prix Goncourt des Lycéens. Rue des Voleurs (2012) was the winner of Prix du Roman-News. In 2015 he was awarded the Prix Goncourt for Boussole (Compass), described by The Guardian as a “dreamlike study of Orientalism.” Compass has been translated by Charlotte Mandel and shortlisted for the 2017 International Man Booker Prize. Énard is a major contemporary voice of cross-cultural dialogue, a theme which is at the core of his novels, from Zone, about the Mediterranean Europe, through Rue des Voleurs, set during the Arab Spring, to Boussole.