Stockholm, October 9
French writer Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, described by the Swedish Academy as a “nomad” for travels around the world that are reflected in his work, won the 2008 Nobel prize for literature today.

The academy, which decides the winner of the prestigious 10 million Swedish crown ($1.4 million) prize, praised the 68-year-old for his adventurous novels, essays and children’s literature.

“His works have a cosmopolitan character. Frenchman, yes, but more so a traveller, a citizen of the world, a nomad,” Horace Engdahl, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, told a news conference to announce the laureate.

Nice-born Le Clezio moved to Nigeria with his family at the age of eight. He wrote his first works — “Un Long Voyage” and “Oradi Noir”— during the month-long journey to Nigeria.

According to the academy’s website, he studied English at a British university and taught at institutions in Bangkok, Mexico City, Boston, Austin and Albuquerque, among others.

Le Clezio also spent long periods in Mexico and Central America and married a Moroccan woman in 1975. Since the 1990s he and his wife have shared their time between Albuquerque in New Mexico, the island of Mauritius and Nice, the academy added.

His first novel was Le proces-verbal (The Interrogation), written when he was 23. It went on to win the Renaudot prize in France.

Seen as an experimental writer in the 1960s, Le Clezio was preoccupied by themes including the environment and childhood.

His big breakthrough came in 1980 with “Desert”, which the Academy said: “Contains magnificent images of a lost culture in the North African desert, contrasted with a depiction of Europe seen through the eyes of unwanted immigrants.”

French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner hailed the prize. “This magnificent honour crowns one of the most remarkable novelistic creations of our time and one of the most demanding and inventive of writing styles,” Kouchner said in a statement.

“From Albuquerque to Seoul, from New York to Panama, from London to Lagos, Jean-Marie G. Le Clezio lives, travels, sees and loves a great number of countries, peoples, civilisations and cultures.” The run-up to this year’s award was overshadowed by controversy after Engdahl said the United States was too insular and did not participate in the “big dialogue” of literature. He touched off a storm of angry responses from US writers and critics with his comments made to a news agency. The last time an American won the prize was in 1993 when it went to Toni Morrison.

British bookmakers Ladbrokes said a flurry of bets on Le Clezio had made him the odds-on favourite to win the prize. “It’s the result we feared. Punters were convinced that Le Clezio’s time had come and they were spot on,” said spokesman Nick Weinberg. All but one of the prizes were established in the will of 19th century dynamite tycoon Alfred Nobel and have been handed out since 1901. The economics award was established by Sweden’s central bank in 1968. — Reuters