David Foenkinos

His novels have appeared in over forty languages, and in 2014 he was awarded the Prix Renaudot for his novel Charlotte.

• Name — David Foenkinos • Birth Name — David Foenkinos • Born — 28 October 1974 • Birthplace — Paris, France • Occupation — Novelist, Screenwriter, Musician

Growing 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.

He 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. 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. David Foenkinos is the brother of director Stéphane Foenkinos.

• 2011: Delicacy • 2017: Jalouse • 2018: I Feel Better • 2019: The Mystery of Henri Pick • 2020: Fantasies

David Foenkinos is recorded as having received Prix François-Mauriac, Roger Nimier Prix and Grand prix Jean-Giono. Recorded at birth as David Pascal Foenkinos. Recognition and collections. Foenkinos received Prix François-Mauriac, Roger Nimier Prix, Grand prix Jean-Giono, Prix Goncourt des Lycéens, Prix Renaudot and Paulée de Meursault Prize.