Muriel Barbery (born 28 May 1969) is a French

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

and

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

teacher. Her 2006 novel ''

The Elegance of the Hedgehog ''The Elegance of the Hedgehog'' (french: link=no, L'Élégance du hérisson) is a novel by the French novelist and philosophy teacher Muriel Barbery. The book follows events in the life of a concierge, Renée Michel, whose deliberately conceal ...

'' quickly sold more than a million copies in several countries.

Biography

Barbery was born in

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populati ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, but she and her parents moved when she was two months old. She studied at the

Lycée Lakanal Lycée Lakanal is a public secondary school in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, France, in the Paris metropolitan area. It was named after Joseph Lakanal, a French politician, and an original member of the Institut de France. The school also offers a midd ...

, entered the École Normale Supérieure de Fontenay-Saint-Cloud in 1990 and obtained her ''

agrégation In France, the ''agrégation'' () is a competitive examination for civil service in the French public education system. Candidates for the examination, or ''agrégatifs'', become ''agrégés'' once they are admitted to the position of ''professe ...

'' in philosophy in 1993. She then taught philosophy at the

Université de Bourgogne The University of Burgundy (french: Université de Bourgogne, uB; formerly known as ''Université de Dijon'') is a public university located in Dijon, France. The University of Burgundy is situated on a large campus (more than 150 ha) in the east ...

, in a ''

lycée In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

'', and at the

Saint-Lô Saint-Lô (, ; br, Sant Lo) is a commune in northwest France, the capital of the Manche department in the region of Normandy.IUFM (teacher training college). After she quit her job, she lived in 2008–2009 in Japan (2008 and 2009). She currently lives in Europe. Her novel ''L'Élégance du hérisson'' (translated by Alison Anderson as ''

'') topped the French bestseller lists for 30 consecutive weeks and was reprinted 50 times, selling over a million copies by May 2008. It has also been a bestseller in Italy, Germany, Spain, South Korea, and in many other countries. The story concerns the inhabitants of a small upper-class Paris apartment block, notably its crypto-intellectual

concierge A concierge () is an employee of a multi-tenant building, such as a hotel or apartment building, who receives guests. The concept has been applied more generally to other hospitality settings and to personal concierges who manage the errands of ...

, Renée. She and Paloma, the likewise intellectual (even radical) teenage daughter of a resident family, narrate the book in turn. Renée also features briefly in Barbery's first novel, '' Une Gourmandise'', which appeared in Anderson's English translation as ''Gourmet Rhapsody'' in 2009.Interview highlights
31 October 2010.
/ref> ''The Elegance of the Hedgehog'' was turned into a 2009 film called ''Le Hérisson'' (in English ''

The Hedgehog ''The Hedgehog'' (''Le Hérisson'') is a French film directed by Mona Achache, loosely based on the novel ''The Elegance of the Hedgehog'' by Muriel Barbery. Made in 2008, the film was released in theatres in 2009. Plot Paloma is an 11-year-o ...

''), directed by

Mona Achache Mona Achache (born 18 March 1981) is a French-Moroccan film director, actress and screenwriter. Career Following a literary and theatrical education Mona Achache becomes an assistant director followed by screenwriting for fictional and documen ...

Novels

*''Une gourmandise'', Gallimard, 2000; in English, ''Gourmet Rhapsody'',

Europa Editions Europa Editions is an independent trade publisher based in New York. The company was founded in 2005 by the owners of the Italian press Edizioni E/O and specializes in literary fiction, mysteries, and narrative non-fiction. Europa has published ...

, August 2009. *'' L'élégance du hérisson'', Gallimard, 2006; in English ''The Elegance of the Hedgehog'',

, September 2008. *''La vie des elfes'', Gallimard, March 2015; in English (translated by Alison Anderson) ''The Life of Elves'',

, February 2016. *''Un étrange pays'', Gallimard, January 2019.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbery, Muriel 1969 births Living people People from Casablanca 20th-century French novelists 21st-century French novelists ENS Fontenay-Saint-Cloud-Lyon alumni Academic staff of the University of Burgundy Prix des libraires winners Lycée Lakanal alumni 20th-century French women writers 21st-century French women writers