Prague (AFP)
The French writer Pierre Michon, author of the "Lives minuscule" and "The Onzes", received Tuesday in Prague the Franz Kafka Literary Prize, awarded each year to an author for the whole of his work.
"I am both happy and scared to receive this prize (?). The poets and writers you have chosen before me seem to me most worthy of admiration," said Pierre Michon at the award ceremony, a statuette in bronze with the image of Franz Kafka with a reward of $ 10,000.
This prize, awarded by the Franz Kafka Society in collaboration with the Prague Municipality, has been awarded since 2001 by an international jury. The winners include Philip Roth, Vaclav Havel, Peter Handke, Margaret Atwood and Haruki Murakami.
Pierre Michon is the second French writer to be distinguished by this award, after Yves Bonnefoy in 2007.
Born in 1945, Pierre Michon published at 38 his first book, "Lives minuscule", for which he was awarded the France Culture Prize in 1984. He then received the 1997 Louis-Guilloux prize for "La Grande Beune" , in 2002 the December prize for "Abbés" and "Corps du roi", in 2009 the grand prize of the French Academy's novel for "Les Onze" and in 2015 the Marguerite Yourcenar prize for all of her work.
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