Marie-Hélène Lafon
She was born in Aurillac in the Cantal department and grew up on the family farm there. She was educated at a religious boarding school in Saint-Flour and, after moving to Paris in 1980, continued her studies at the Sorbonne. She took her agrégation de grammaire in 1987, going on to teach classical literature.
Also recorded as Marie-Helene Lafon
Marie-Hélène Lafon
Photo Claude TRUONG-NGOC · Claude Truong-Ngoc / Wikimedia Commons - cc-by-sa-3.0 · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Name
- Marie-Hélène Lafon
- Born
- 1962
- Birthplace
- Aurillac, Cantal, France
- Nationality
- France
- Occupation
- writer · professeur agrégé
- Education
- Paris-Sorbonne University - Paris IV · Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3 · Paris Diderot University
- Honours
- Prix Renaudot des lycéens · prix Arverne · Prix Goncourt de la nouvelle · Prix Renaudot
- Languages
- French
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Documentary summary
She was born in Aurillac in the Cantal department and grew up on the family farm there. She was educated at a religious boarding school in Saint-Flour and, after moving to Paris in 1980, continued her studies at the Sorbonne. She took her agrégation de grammaire in 1987, going on to teach classical literature.
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gnd · 1397824999 · wikidata · Q3291890 · wikipedia · Marie-Hélène Lafon
In this article
Biography
Biography
Lafon only began writing when she was 34, publishing her first novel Le soir du chien in 2001.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Marie-Hélène Lafon • Born — 1962 • Birthplace — Aurillac, Cantal, France • Genre — novel, story
Selected works
Selected works
Source: • Le soir du chien, novel (2001), received the Prix Renaudot young adult • Liturgie, stories (2002), received the Prix Renaissance de la Nouvelle • Sur la photo, novel (2003) • Mo: roman, novel (2005) • Organes, stories (2006) • La maison Santoire (2007) • Les Derniers Indiens, novel (2008) • L'annonce, novel (2009) • Gordana, novel (2009) • Les Pays, novel (2012), received the Globe de Cristal Award • Album, alphabet book (2012) • Tensions toniques - les récits de Marie-Hélène Lafon, stories (2012) • Traversée (2013) • Joseph (2014) • Chantiers (2015) • Histoires (2016), received the Prix Goncourt de la nouvelle • Nos vies (2017) • Histoire du fils (2020), received the Prix Renaudot
Legacy
The university library of Letters, Languages and Human Sciences of Clermont Auvergne University was renamed in her name in October 2021.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Marie-Hélène Lafon”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 1397824999, Colloque: "Un désir éperdu de langue. La langue de Marie-Hélène Lafon" (2024 : Paris).
General reference · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q3291890: Marie-Hélène Lafon
General reference · Wikidata
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 1397824999, Colloque: "Un désir éperdu de langue. La langue de Marie-Hélène Lafon" (2024 : Paris).Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Studied at
2- Paris Diderot UniversityOrganisation
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
- Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3Organisation
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 20 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,991 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Marie-Célie AgnantAuthor
- Marie-Claire BancquartAuthor
- Marie-Claire BlaisAuthor
- Marie-Gabriel-Florent-Auguste de Choiseul-GouffierAuthor
- Marie-Jean-Léon d'Hervey de Saint DenysAuthor
- Marie-Jeanne L'HéritierAuthor
- Marie-Jo BonnetAuthor
- Marie-Joseph ChénierAuthor
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