Marie-Hélène Lafon (born 1962) is a French educator and award-winning writer. She was born in Aurillac in the

Cantal Cantal (; oc, Cantal or ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France, with its prefecture in Aurillac. Its other principal towns are Saint-Flour (the episcopal see) and Mauriac; its residents are known as Cantalians (fren ...

department and grew up on the family farm there. She was educated at a religious boarding school in

Saint-Flour Saint-Flour (; Auvergnat: ''Sant Flor'') is a commune in the Cantal department in the Auvergne region in south-central France, around 100 km south of Clermont-Ferrand. Its inhabitants are called ''Sanflorains''. Geography The upper cit ...

and, after moving to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

in 1980, continued her studies at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

. She took her agrégation de grammaire in 1987, going on to teach classical literature. Lafon only began writing when she was 34, publishing her first novel ''Le soir du chien'' in 2001.

Selected works

* ''Le soir du chien'', novel (2001), received the Prix Renaudot young adult * ''Liturgie'', stories (2002), received the Prix Renaissance de la Nouvelle * ''Sur la photo'', novel (2003) * ''Mo : roman'', novel (2005) * ''Organes'', stories (2006) * ''La maison Santoire'' (2007) * ''Les Derniers Indiens'', novel (2008) * ''L'annonce'', novel (2009) * ''Gordana'', novel (2009) * ''Les Pays'', novel (2012), received the Globe de Cristal Award * ''Album'', alphabet book (2012) * ''Tensions toniques - les récits de Marie-Hélène Lafon'', stories (2012) * ''Traversée'' (2013) * ''Joseph'' (2014) * ''Chantiers'' (2015) * ''Histoires'' (2016), received the

Prix Goncourt de la nouvelle The Prix Goncourt (french: Le prix Goncourt, , ''The Goncourt Prize'') is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". The prize carries a symbolic reward o ...

* ''Nos vies'' (2017) * ''Histoire du fils'' (2020), received the

Prix Renaudot The Prix Théophraste-Renaudot or Prix Renaudot () is a French literary award. History The prize was created in 1926 by ten art critics awaiting the results of deliberation of the jury of the Prix Goncourt. While not officially related to the ...

Legacy

The university library of Letters, Languages and Human Sciences of

Clermont Auvergne University Clermont Auvergne University (french: Université Clermont Auvergne) is a public research university with its main campus in Clermont-Ferrand, France. It was created with the merger of Blaise Pascal University and the University of Auvergne ...

was renamed to her name in October 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lafon, Marie-Helene 1962 births Living people French women novelists Prix Goncourt de la nouvelle recipients French educators People from Aurillac Prix Renaudot winners Prix Renaudot des lycéens winners