David Foenkinos, born 28 October 1974 in Paris, is a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter and director who studied both literature and music in Paris.
David Foenkinos | |
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| Born | David Foenkinos 28 October 1974 Paris, France |
| Occupation | Novelist, Scenarist, Musician |
| Nationality | French |
His novel La délicatesse is a bestseller in France.[1] A film based on the book was released in December 2011, with Audrey Tautou as the main character.[2] His novels have appeared in over forty languages,[3] and in 2014 he was awarded the Prix Renaudot for his novel Charlotte.[4]
Biography
editEarly years
editGrowing up in a home with few books and often absent parents, David Foenkinos read and wrote little during his childhood. At 16, he required emergency surgery as a result of a rare pleural infection and spent several months recuperating in hospital, where he began to devour books, learning to paint and play the guitar. From this experience, he says, he kept a drive for life, a force that he wanted to convey through his books.[5]
Education and career
editHe studied literature at the Sorbonne and music in a jazz school, eventually becoming a guitar teacher. In the evenings, he was a waiter in a restaurant. After unsuccessfully trying to set up a music group, he turned his hand to writing.[6]
After a handful of failed manuscripts, he found his style, and his first novel Inversion de l'idiotie: de l'influence de deux Polonais (“Inversion of idiocy: influenced by two Poles”), though refused by many other publishers, was published by Gallimard in 2002; the book earned him the François-Mauriac literary prize, awarded by the Académie Française.[7]
David Foenkinos is the brother of director Stéphane Foenkinos.
Filmography
edit- 2011 : Delicacy
- 2017 : Jalouse
- 2018 : I Feel Better
- 2019 : The Mystery of Henri Pick
- 2020 : Fantasies
Bibliography
edit- Inversion de l'idiotie : de l'influence de deux Polonais (2001)
- Entre les oreilles (2002)
- Erotic Potential of My Wife (Le Potentiel érotique de ma femme) (2004)
- En cas de bonheur (2005)
- Les Cœurs autonomes (2006)
- Qui se souvient de David Foenkinos ? (2007)
- Nos séparations (2008)
- Delicacy (La délicatesse) (2009)
- Bernard (2010)
- Lennon (2010)
- Les souvenirs (2011)
- Le petit garçon qui disait toujours non (2011)
- Je vais mieux (2012)
- Charlotte (2014)
- Le Mystère Henri Pick (2016)
- Vers la beauté (2018)
- Deux sœurs (2019)
- La famille Martin (2020)
- Numéro deux (2022)
- La vie heureuse (2024)
References
edit- ^ David Foenkinos. Book Around The Corner
- ^ Libération.fr
- ^ Frank Quilitzsch, Lesung aus ‘Zum Glück Pauline’ in Anwesenheit des Autors, Thüringische Landeszeitung, 13 September 2013. Accessed 15 July 2023.
- ^ Raphaëlle Leyris (5 November 2014). "Prix Renaudot : David Foenkinos récompensé pour " Charlotte "" (in French). Le Monde.
- ^ Julien Bisson, David Foenkinos: Un succès littéraire a toujours des conséquences un peu ridicules (“Literary success always has slightly ridiculous outcomes”), lexpress.fr, 1 April 2016. Accessed 15 July 2023.
- ^ Astrid De Larmina, Le Renaudot à Foenkinos, la consécration d'un phénomène, lefigaro.fr, 5 November 2014. Accessed 15 July 2023.
- ^ Prix de l’Académie, 2002: David Foenkinos, Académie Française, 2002. Accessed 15 July 2023.