10/04/2026
In France, few living authors share the celebrity status of Marie NDiaye, who last week, alongside her English translator, Jordan Stump, made the International Booker longlist with her novel ‘The Witch.’ Her origin story is something of a legend. NDiaye, now 58, was discovered at the age of 17 by Jérôme Lindon, an editor who worked with Samuel Beckett and Claude Simon, and published her first novel before she finished high school. NDiaye has since written over 20 novels and won the biggest prizes in French letters.
Although ‘The Witch’ first appeared in French 30 years ago, it may now become a new entry point into her oeuvre for English-language readers. “It’s great that the book is a Booker finalist, but it’s a bit strange. It’s a different me who wrote it,” she said.
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