Amélie Nothomb was born in Japan to Belgian parents in 1967. She lives in Paris. Her books have been translated into twenty-five languages and counting, and been awarded numerous prizes including the French Academy’s Grand Prix for the Novel, the René-Fallet, Alain-Fournier, and Jean-Giono prizes.
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Amélie Nothomb
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from the Columbia Daily Spectator's Arts & Culture Insert, The Eye
Shooting from the Side
amélie nothomb’s autobiographical memoir explores the complexity of language and relationships
“I’ll...
David Burleigh from the Japan Times has named Amélie Nothomb's Tokyo Fiancée one of the best books of 2009. Meanwhile, (unofficial) word has it that Amélie's story of love in the...
Publishers Weekly has selected Amélie Nothomb's forthcoming novel Hygiene and the Assassin as its Pick of the Week.
In November, Europa will publish the first English translation of Hygiene...
An excerpt from Amélie Nothomb's newest novel, Pétronille, is featured on Fiction Advocate.
Latest reviews
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“With Thirst, Nothomb entices lucky readers with a dissenting, potentially heretical, refreshingly fascinating interpretation of an all-too-familiar life.”— Shelf Awareness, Apr 5 2021![]()
“The novel builds up to that moment of insight, epiphany, and release that comes with these final words, 'I thirst'....A satisfying and thoughtful take on a familiar tale.”— The Complete Review, Apr 2 2021![]()
““Strike Your Heart” will stay with you for a long time.”— The Hungry Reader, Oct 1 2018![]()
“Heart feels like the kind of book you write when you don’t care who you shock.”— The Seattle Review of Books, Sep 25 2018![]()
“If you are human, it will strike your heart, too.”— The Washington Post, Sep 10 2018![]()
“This razor-sharp morality tale can be read in an afternoon but contains a lifetime of wisdom about how we cope with the weaknesses of those closest to us.”— Kirkus Reviews (Starred), Jul 31 2018![]()
“Petronille, a frothy exploration of female friendship set in the Champagne region of France, is just the kind of lighthearted book Nothomb’s fans expect from her.”— The New York Times Book Review, Oct 10 2017![]()
In her latest, Pétronille (2014; tr. from the French by Alison Anderson, 2015), “the author,” let’s call her Amélie, is back to examine her odd, slightly threatening, relationship with another author, Pétronille Fanto...— The Mookse and the Gripes, Nov 5 2015![]()
In late 1997, thirty-year-old rising literary star Amélie Nothomb moves to Paris. While there, she embarks on a search for a drinking companion—not just any old lover of liquor, however; Nothomb is in search of a partner whose adoration for champagne, specifically, matches her own.— Backlisted, Nov 2 2015![]()
At 108 pages, Pétronille is a slight, frothy bubble of a book, in Amélie Nothomb's signature lighthearted style. Though not quite what readers might expect from Nothomb, it's a genuinely funny and touching tribute to a friendship between two young female novelists in Paris.— Shelf Awareness, Oct 16 2015![]()
“Intoxication doesn’t just happen. It’s an art,” Nothomb (Hygiene and the Assassin) writes in her latest novel, dripping with champagne and mischief. The protagonist, Nothomb, is a bibulous author in search of a “comvinion” (a drinking companion) and ends up with...— Sep 17 2015![]()
Pétronille is narrated by an author matching Amélie Nothomb in all the essentials -- name, age, output -- and fits, more or less, in with the rest of Nothomb's autobiographical fiction (about every other novel). The novel covers almost two decades -- "My story begins in late...— Jul 8 2015![]()
Our relationship with stories is an odd one - on one hand, stories fuel our imagination and extend our experiences into the unknown; on the other hand, we often dismiss stories as 'just a figment of imagination,' as if, not being realized somehow limits the effectiveness of fiction...— May 21 2015![]()
Partly epistolary novel with a narrator named Amélie, who is almost indistinguishable from the author. The novel raises questions of war, dependence and the nature of writing and proves Nothomb’s originality. About the Author Amélie Nothomb was born in Japan of Belgian...— Nov 25 2014![]()
Daniel Medin teaches at the American University of Paris, where he helps direct the Center for Writers and Translators, is an editor of The Cahiers Series, and co-hosts the podcast entitled That Other Word. He has authored a study of Franz Kafka in the work of...— Feb 19 2014![]()
When a successful, well-known French author engages in a prolonged correspondence with a troubled American fan, both of their identities are brought into question. LIFE FORM is a probing exploration of the meaning of friendship and human connection. Amélie Nothomb skillfully...— May 15 2013![]()
LIFE FORM, an epistolary novel by the prolific Belgian author Amelie Nothomb, begins as the prolific Belgian author Amelie Nothomb receives "a new sort of letter" in the mail. The letter is from Melvin Mapple, an American soldier stationed in Iraq who reveals...— Mar 28 2013![]()
“I need to be very hungry all the time,” celebrated Belgian novelist and disordered eater Amélie Nothomb once admitted. “I need to be very hungry to write.” For her nineteenth book, LIFE FORM, Nothomb has applied her preternaturally original mind to those two...— Mar 15 2013![]()
So, I've read two of Amélie Nothomb's books in the past (HYGIENE AND THE ASSASSIN and TOKYO FIANCEE) and loved the first and was kind of lukewarm on the other. I think Nothomb is one of those writers whose every book is a little bit different and whose only consistent feature...— Feb 20 2013![]()
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