‘Meet the Writer: Nicolas Mathieu’

Since being awarded the Prix Goncourt in 2018, French writer Nicolas Mathieu has been considered one of the great talents of the new generation. In his novels, he interweaves like no other the intimate with the political. His work often revolves around social powerlessness and existential rage. His award-winning novel And Their Children After Them, for instance, tells the story of frustrated young people in the French suburbs. His latest novel Connemara (2022) is about disappointed forty-somethings. How do you carry on after divorce, a burnout and a heap of dashed ambitions? With psychological precision, Mathieu describes how life doesn't always turn out the way you thought it would, but how you can find new love nonetheless. Mathieu is coming to Bozar on the occasion of the Dutch translation of Connemara.

Interview by Pascal Claude.