In announcing the prize, Swedish Academy Permanent Secretary Mats Malm said that the 82-year-old Ernaux received the award for his "courage and clinical acumen in discovering the roots, alienation and collective limits of individual memory.

In a press release, the Academy praised the writer for her "consistently diverse perspectives" on "lives that are vastly different in terms of gender, language, and class.

The Academy was unable to reach Ernaux in advance to tell her she had won the prize, which meant she received the news at the same time as the rest of the world.

In a press release issued the same day, the Swedish Academy of Letters said that Ernaux "reveals with courage and clinician-like acuity the roots of personal memory, disconnection, and collective constraint". In her writing, she "consistently examines life from a variety of perspectives, with great differences in gender, language, and class," and she has had a long and arduous journey.

Malm said he regretted not being able to get in touch with Ernaux by phone.

Born in France in 1940, Ernaux is one of the influential female writers in contemporary French literature and has published several works, including "The Long Years".