Maylis de Kerangal (born 16 June 1967) is a French author. Her novels deeply explore people in their work lives. She has won several awards for her work, and her novels have been published in several languages. Two have been adapted as films.

Life and career

Raised in

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...

, Maylis de Kerangal studied history and philosophy in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. She worked at Paris-based

Éditions Gallimard Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003 it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles. Founded by Ga ...

in the children and youth department from 1991 to 1996, then travelled in the United States. After her return, she did graduate work at the

School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (french: École des hautes études en sciences sociales; EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and ''grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The ...

. De Kerangal wrote her first novel in 2000, and then became a full-time writer. Her celebrated novel, ''Birth of a Bridge'' (''Naissance d'un pont'', 2010) presents a literary saga of a handful of men and women who are charged with building a bridge somewhere in a mythical California. ''Birth of a Bridge'' was short-listed for the

Prix Goncourt 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 ...

. It was awarded both the

Prix Médicis The Prix Médicis is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by and . It is awarded to an author whose "fame does not yet match his talent." The award goes to a work of fiction in the French language. In 19 ...

in 2010 and the

Premio Gregor von Rezzori The Premio Gregor von Rezzori (Gregor von Rezzori Award) is a literary prize awarded at the annual Festival degli Scrittori in Florence. The award was established in 2007 in honor of Gregor von Rezzori, a Mitteleuropean writer, author of novels and ...

in 2014, and has been translated into several languages worldwide. ''Mend the Living'' (''Réparer les vivants'', 2014), translated by Jessica Moore and published in the UK, won the

Prix Orange du Livre Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who als ...

and the Grand prix RTL du livre in France, and the 2017

Wellcome Book Prize Wellcome Book Prize (2009–2019 — paused) is an annual British literary award sponsored by Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established i ...

(UK). ''Mend the Living'' was adapted for the stage and produced at the theatre festival in Avignon. It received positive reviews for its intimate look at the realities and philosophical questioning around organ donation. It was adapted as the film ''

Heal the Living ''Heal the Living'' (french: Réparer les vivants) is a 2016 drama film directed by Katell Quillévéré from a screenplay she co-wrote with Gilles Taurand, based on the 2013 novel ''Réparer les vivants'' (''Mend the Living'') by Maylis de Keran ...

'' (2016). A second English-language translation of the novel by Sam Taylor, entitled '' The Heart'', was published in the US in 2016.

Works

*''Je marche sous un ciel de traîne''. Paris: Éditions Verticales, 2000. *''La Vie voyageuse''. Paris, Éditions Verticales, 2003. *''Ni fleurs ni couronnes''. Paris: Éditions Verticales, 2006. *''Dans les rapides''. Paris: Éditions Naïve, 2007. *''Corniche Kennedy''. Paris: Éditions Verticales, 2008. *''Naissance d'un pont''. Paris: Éditions Verticales, 2010. **Awards:

2010; Prix Franz Hessel 2010; Premio Gregor von Rezzori 2014 **Translation: ''Birth of a Bridge''. tr. Jessica Moore. Vancouver, BC:

Talonbooks Talonbooks is an independent publisher of Canadian literature based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Its repertoire features authors writing in the literary genres of poetry, fiction and drama, as well as non-fiction books in the fields of ethnogra ...

, 2014. *''Tangente vers l'est''. Paris, Éditions Verticales, 2012, 134 p. **Award: Prix Landerneau 2012 **Translation: ''Eastbound''. tr. Jessica Moore. New York: Archipelago Books, 2023. *''Réparer les vivants''. Paris: Éditions Verticales, 2013. **Awards:

Grand prix RTL-Lire The grand prix RTL-''Lire'' is one of the main literary awards of the winter/spring literary season in France. Given in partnership with Lire magazine, it rewards a French-language novel chosen by a jury of readers. History In 1992, the grand pr ...

2014; Prix France Culture/Télérama 2014; Prix Orange du Livre 2014. **Translations: ***''Mend the Living''. tr. Jessica Moore. UK: Maclehose and Vancouver:

, 2016. ****Award; Winner of the

, 2017 ***'' The Heart''. tr. Sam Taylor. New York:

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

, 2016. *''à ce stade de la nuit''. Paris: Éditions Verticales, 2014. *''Un chemin de tables''. Seuil - Raconter la vie. 2016. **Translation: ''The Cook: A Novel''. tr. Sam Taylor. New York:

, 2019. *''Un monde à portée de main,''. Paris: Éditions Verticales, 2018. **Translation: ''Painting Time''. tr. Jessica Moore (2021)

References

External links

Maylis de Kerangal by Jessica Moore
''

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'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Kerangal, Maylis 21st-century French novelists French women novelists 1967 births Writers from Toulon Living people 21st-century French women writers Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Prix Médicis winners Wellcome Book Prize