In more than 20 books published over five decades, Ernaux has probed deeply personal experiences and feelings – love, sex, abortion, shame – within a society split by gender and class divisions.The prize-giving Swedish Academy said Ernaux, 82, was recognized for “the courage and clinical acuity” of books rooted in her small-town background in the Normandy region of northwest France.Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel literature committee, said Ernaux is “not afraid to confront the hard truths.” 3 win Nobel medicine prize for discovering hepatitis C virus Nobelist Annie Ernaux draws hundreds to New York bookstore Ex-Fed Chair Bernanke shares Nobel for bank failure research Some Ukrainians voice mixed reactions to Nobel prize winners “She writes about things that no one else writes about, for instance her abortion, her jealousy, her experiences as an abandoned lover and so forth.They are short books, but they are really moving.” French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: “Annie Ernaux has been writing for 50 years the novel of the collective and intimate memory of our country.This neutral writing style comes to me naturally.” “La honte” (“Shame”), published in 1997, explored a childhood trauma, while “L’événement” (“Happening”), from 2000, dealt like “Cleaned Out” with an illegal abortion."