Benoît Duteurtre

Benoît Duteurtre on stage with Artistic Director of the OIWF, Sean Wilson.

From the French Embassy website:

"An anarchic and controversial figure in France, Benoit Duteurtre became a writer after Samuel Beckett praised his early work. Duteurtre went on to write 10 novels and win the coveted Prix Médicis, and has been acclaimed by Milan Kundera and media philosopher Guy Dubord alike. The great-grandson of French President René Coty, Duteurtre is also the host of his own radio talk show, “Astonish Me, Benoit.”

A successful novel in France, The little girl and the cigarette has been translated into 13 languages. The novel has been released in Finland, and in the United States in March 2007 (Melville House), and will be soon published in Italy, the United Kingdom, Russia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece, Taiwan and Korea."