Michel Houellebecq

Michel Houellebecq was born on 26 February 1958 on the French island of la Réunion. He grew up near Paris, being looked after by his grandmother. Having obtained his "Baccaluréat", he became a student at the Ecole Supérieure d'Agronomie and obtained his diploma of engineer agronomist in 1980 . He got married that same year, but it did not last and a year later, the couple divorced. A long period of depression followed, marked by some stays in psychiatric institutions. In the early 1980's, he started mingling with literary and poetic circles. In 1985 he met Michel Bulteau, director of the Nouvelle Revue de Paris, who first offered to publish his poems. He worked at the Assemblée Nationale for a short period of time, whilst still writing poetry and collaborating to many reviews and magazines (l'Atelier du roman, les Inrockuptibles). He finally got recognition as an author after his first novel was published in 1994. In 1998 he received the Grand Prix National des Lettres Jeunes Talents for the whole of his work. He re-married in 1998, and in 1999 collaborated to the adaptation for the cinema of his novel "Extension du domaine de lutte". He has also released an album, on which his poems are said by him and put into music by Bertrand Burgalat. He now lives in County Cork, Ireland.