Le Clezio wins Nobel literature prize
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - French writer Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio, described by President Nicolas Sarkozy as a "child of all continents" who embodied a globalised world, won the 2008 Nobel prize for literature on Thursday.
The Academy, which decides the winner of the prestigious 10 million Swedish crown (818,500 pound) prize, praised the 68-year-old author for his adventurous novels, essays and children's literature.
"His works have a cosmopolitan character. Frenchman, yes, but more so a traveller, a citizen of the world, a nomad," Horace Engdahl, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, told a news conference to announce the laureate.
The build-up to this year's award has been overshadowed by controversy after Engdahl said the United States was too insular and did not participate in the "big dialogue" of literature.
His comments prompted angry responses from U.S. writers and critics who complained the Nobel committee was biased against American authors. The last time an American won the prize was in 1993 when it went to novelist Toni Morrison.
Nice-born Le Clezio moved to Nigeria with his family at the age of eight. He wrote his first works -- "Un Long Voyage" and "Oradi Noir" -- during the month-long journey.
According to the Academy's Web site, he studied English at a British university and taught at institutions in Bangkok, Mexico City, Boston, Austin and Albuquerque, among others.
Le Clezio also spent long periods in Mexico and Central America and married a Moroccan woman in 1975. Since the 1990s he and his wife have shared their time between Albuquerque in New Mexico, the island of Mauritius and Nice, the Academy added.
His first novel was Le proces-verbal (The Interrogation), written when he was 23. It went on to win the Renaudot prize in France.
PRAISE IN FRANCE
Seen as an experimental writer in the 1960s, Le Clezio was preoccupied by themes including the environment and childhood.
His big breakthrough came in 1980 with "Desert," which the Academy said "contains magnificent images of a lost culture in the North African desert, contrasted with a depiction of Europe seen through the eyes of unwanted immigrants."
The French president hailed the award.
"A child of Mauritius and Nigeria, a teenager in Nice, a nomad of the American and African deserts, Jean-Marie Le Clezio is a citizen of the world, a child of all continents and of all cultures," Sarkozy said in a statement.
"A great traveller, he embodies the global reach of France's culture and values in a globalised world."
British bookmakers Ladbrokes said a flurry of bets on Le Clezio had made him the odds-on favourite to win the prize.
"It's the result we feared. Punters were convinced that Le Clezio's time had come and they were spot on," said spokesman Nick Weinberg.
All but one of the prizes were established in the will of 19th century dynamite tycoon Alfred Nobel and have been handed out since 1901. The economics award was established by Sweden's central bank in 1968.
(Additional reporting by Adam Cox in Stockholm, Mike Collett-White in London and Estelle Shirbon in Paris)
(Writing by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)