Marie N’Diaye: “A master of literary character drawing”

The French author Marie N’Diaye has received the Austrian State Prize for European Literature, which has been awarded by the Ministry of Culture since 1965. The award is endowed with 25,000 euros and will be officially presented to the 54-year-old at a ceremony during the Salzburg Festival. This was announced by Secretary of State for Culture Andrea Mayer (Greens) on Tuesday. N’Diaye succeeds Scotland’s Ali Smith, who received the honor in 2022.

“Anyone who thinks that everything is fine in our liberal, affluent society is wrong. One only has to open a novel by Marie N’Diaye and know that much is amiss”Mayer paid her respects to the writer: “N’Diaye’s books are complexly composed analyzes of the present, conducted in crystal-clear language, which take up current issues of gender, origin, skin color and social class and pursue them down to the finest ramifications of interpersonal relationships.”

In its justification, the jury also emphasized the broad impact of the author: “She experienced Europe literally and lived with her family in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany for many years.” The influences gained from this are unmistakable today: “She has long been one of the best of our time. This author is stylistically brilliant, a master at character drawing. She casts a spell over her audience with sophisticated narrative styles, and time and again lets glimpses of the abyss.”

N’Diaye has become known as a prose writer and has won with works such as “The dear relatives” (1993), “All my friends” (2006), “my heart tight” (2008) or last “The revenge is mine” (2021) also a German-speaking readership. However, she also celebrated successes at the theater with plays such as “Hilda” and “The snakes”.