Nicolas Mathieu (writer)
French novelist whose work blends literary fiction, noir, and social realism.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nicolas Mathieu (French pronunciation: [nikɔla matjø]; born 2 June[1] 1978 in Épinal) is a French novelist who has also written short fiction and children’s literature. He was awarded the Prix Goncourt in 2018 for his novel Leurs enfants après eux (English translation: And Their Children After Them), which follows a group of young people growing up in the aftermath of deindustrialization in northeastern France, a theme that recurs throughout his work.[2][3]
Nicolas Mathieu | |
|---|---|
Mathieu in 2019 | |
| Born | June 2, 1978 |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Alma mater | University of Metz (since merged into University of Lorraine) |
| Genre | literary fiction, Noir fiction |
| Notable works |
|
| Children | 1 |
Biography, education, and early work
Mathieu was born on June 2, 1978[1] to parents who were respectively an electromechanic and an accountant.[4][5] He spent his childhood in Golbey, a small town in the Vosges region.[3] Educated in a private Catholic school, he knew he wanted to be a writer at the age of 14.[4] He has said that his time in school is where he began to understand socioeconomic class distinctions and that this awareness intensified once he discovered the writing of Annie Ernaux.[3] He earned his undergraduate degree from the Paul Verlaine University in Metz,[4] then studied art history and film theory for a Master's Degree. His thesis focused on Terence Malick from a philosophical perspective.[3][6][7]
He subsequently went to work as a manager in the communications department at City Hall in Paris. He later spoke about this time of life as difficult for him. He experienced a "burn-out" that prompted his return to live in Nancy.[8] "The idea," he said, was to "work less to earn a living," and thereby have more time to write.[8] To earn a living in Nancy, he worked for ATMO Grand-Est (a non-profit environmental agency) as a generalist writer in a communications role.[9]
Writing career
Novels
Aux animaux la guerre (Of Fangs And Talons)
His first novel is Aux animaux la guerre (2014),[a] a mystery and crime novel, published by Chez Actes Noir, a division of Éditions Actes Sud.[10][11] It was adapted to a 6-part France 3 television series in 2018. It was translated into English in 2021 under the title ("Of Fangs And Talons"). The novel covers deindustrialization and moral decay and is said to follow in the literary traditions of writers such as Balzac and Émile Zola.[4] He has said that he thinks the style is more like Gustave Flaubert than Zola.[12] The novel won three distinctions: the Prix Erckmann-Chatrian in 2014, the Prix Mystère de la critique, and the Festival du goéland masqué in 2015.[13]
Leurs enfants après eux (And Their Children After Them)
His second novel, Leurs enfants après eux (2018) is about a group of young people in the 1990s in a fictional rural northeastern French town, set in the valley of Lorraine,[3] over the course of six years.[12] This novel expands and deepens the exposition of the negative consequences of deindustrialization.[2] It has been translated by William Rodarmor and was published in the United States as And Their Children After Them on 7 April 2020 by Other Press.[12] The original novel won France's prestigious Prix Goncourt in 2018 and the English translation won the Albertine Prize (for French writing in translation) in 2021.
Connemara
Connemara was published by Actes Sud in 2022.[14] It is described as a "complex love story"[15] between Hélène and Christophe, two forty-somethings, who hail from the same town in the Vosges region but reconnect after leading very different lives. Mathieu gave the work its title as a nod to the song "Les Lacs du Connemara"[b] by Michel Sardou. Mathieu justified the choice by explaining that while the song is something we all share, the meaning you take from it depends on the circumstances around hearing it.[16] The novel also explores the pressures of a career in management consulting, which is the field in which the leading female character, Hélène, works.[17] Mathieu met with numerous consultants during the preparatory phase of writing the novel.[17] The novel interestingly ancipated, albeit inadvertently, the McKinsey Affair.[c][17]
Other works
In 2021, he was a resident writer of the Albertine Foundation in Oxford, MS[6] and winner of the Albertine Prize.[18][19]
He wrote a feature story titled, "One Summer at the Circle" for publication in The Southwest Review.[d][20][21]
An active presence on Instagram, he writes reflective and insightful posts that often feed into his writing process.[22] In a Radio France podcast interview in 2024, Mathieu talked about his process in writing love stories when he said: "A love story is not like a football team transfer: you don't change your shirt, your salary and your convictions overnight."[22]
Le Ciel Ouvert
In 2024, he published Le Ciel Ouvert, a collection of short stories and poetry.[23] The work includes illustrations by Aline Zalco. Mathieu explained in interviews that he had begun writing the ideas that became this collection of prose in Facebook posts in 2008, continuing on Instagram from 2012, and that these writings were messages to "a woman who was not free,"[23] and who he admired from a distance and in secret.[24][25] It was, in effect, an opening of the sky (the English translation of the title being 'the open sky') on something like a private diary.[23] The texts were "cast into a stream,"[23] live-posted confessions, it was said.[23] This was remarkable as a story in motion and a daily account of the passage of time.[23] He has said that these outpourings were his attempt to process overwhelming emotions, a struggle to move beyond it, and a "war against the natural course of things."[24]
Political views and activities
Generally, his social and political views are expressed on Instagram.[22] In 2023, the periodical Libération posted an article that called him (in French, though translated here) "public enemy number one of the Macron camp."[26]
In 2022, he had expressed sympathy for the French politician Fabien Roussel, although he never officially endorsed him.[27]
He supported the 2023 French pension reform strikes.[28] He published an op-ed piece, addressing the government of French President Emmanuel Macron explicitly, titled, "Savez-vous quelle réserve de rage vous venez de libérer ?" (Do you realize what reservoir of rage you have just unleashed?) The piece was published in Mediapart on March 18, 2023.[29][30]
That same year, when the French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin ordered the ban of sale to minors of the book Bien Trop Petit by Manu Causse.[31] In response, Mathieu called for his Instagram followers to join him in posting the books they read as teenagers under the hashtag #WhenIWas15.[32] The posts were subsequently compiled for a collection that included a contribution from Mathieu and then was published by Éditions Thierry Magnier.[32] Actes Sud released an audiobook of the collection in 2023, with Mathieu writing the preface.[33]
In May 2025, Mathieu joined a group of writers in writing an op-ed piece, denouncing the genocide of the population in Gaza and calling for an immediate ceasefire.[34][35]
Personal life
In March 2024, an article in Paris Match suggested a romance between Nicolas Mathieu and Charlotte Casiraghi with further speculation appearing in Libération[36] and elsewhere in the French media.[37][38] It was generally said that the wide disparity of background between Mathieu and Casiraghi, a fellow writer but coincidentally the niece of the Albert II, Prince of Monaco, generated this high level of interest in their relationship.[39]
The author lives in Nancy.[21] He has one son from a previous relationship,[40] who was born in 2013 and to whom he dedicated his most renowned book, Leurs enfant après eux.[41]
Awards and honours
- 2014 Prix Erckmann-Chatrian winner Aux animaux la guerre[42]
- 2015 Prix Mystère de la critique winner Aux animaux la guerre[43]
- 2015 Festival du goéland masqué prize for novel Aux animaux la guerre[44]
- 2018 Prix Goncourt winner Leurs enfants après eux[2]
- 2021 Albertine Prize winner for And Their Children After Them[45][46][47]
Bibliography
- Aux animaux la guerre, Actes Sud, 2014, ISBN 9782330030377
- Translated by Sam Taylor as Of Fangs and Talons
- "Paris/Colmar," Les Petits Polars du Monde, 2015, ISBN 9782361562090. Republished later by Mathieu as "La retraite du juge Wagner" in Rose Royal[48]
- Leurs enfants après eux, Actes Sud, 2018, ISBN 9782330108717
- Translated by William Rodarmor as And Their Children After Them
- Rose Royal, Actes Sud, 2019, ISBN 9782330149970
- Translated by Sam Taylor as Rose Royal: A Love Story
- Connemara, Actes Sud, 2022, ISBN 9782330159702
- Also translated by Sam Taylor, under the same title as in French
- Le Ciel Ouvert, Actes Sud, 2024, ISBN 9782330185497
Children's Books authored by Nicolas Mathieu
- La Grande École, illustrated by Pierre-Henry Gomont. Actes Sud, 2020. ISBN 9782330141936
- Le Secret des Parents, illustrated by Pierre-Henry Gomont. Actes Sud, 2021. ISBN 9782330155216
- Papa, illustrated by Stéphane Kiehl. Actes Sud, 2022, ISBN 9782330162863
- Le Seul Bonheur, illustrated by Benjamin Chaud. Éditions La Doux, 29 April 2026, ISBN 9782488813020
Notes
- Literally, "Animals at war," though the English translation of the novel is titled, "Of Fangs and Talons."
- Literally, "The Lakes of Connemara"
- L'Affaire McKinsey, or McKinsey Affair, also known as McKinseygate, was a scandal in French politics involving the political campaign of Emmanuel Macron from 2017-2022. The French article in Wikipedia (Affaire_McKinsey) gives more detail. For an overview in English, see: McKinsey Company/French presidential corruption scandal
- Mathieu's story, "One Summer at the Circle," is published in The Southwest Review, Spring 2024, Vol.109, No.1.
