The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to French writer Annie Ernaux for her compelling work at the intersection of fiction and memoir. Ernaux, born in France in 1940, published her first novel, Cleaned Out, in 1974. The novel was later translated into English in 1990. Her works center around themes of class, sexism, and shame. Cleaned Out is an autobiographical novel about Ernaux’s experience obtaining an abortion in France when it was still illegal. Her newest book, written in French, Le Jeune Homme, will be released in English in 2023.