Daniel Pennac: Recipient of the 2008 Blue Metropolis Literary Grand Prix

Born in Casablanca in 1944, Daniel Pennac is one of the most translated of contemporary French writers with books for both adults and children appearing in more than 30 languages around the world. His first few books (Au bonheur des ogres, La fée carabine, and La petite marchande de prose) were met with immediate success, and his 1984 novel L'œil du loup was translated into English as Eye of the Wolf by Sarah Adams, winning her the 2005 Marsh Award for Children's Literature in Translation. Pennac is also the author of The Malaussene Saga, a series of novels set in the popular, racially mixed Belleville quarter in the eastern part of Paris. He has also penned a book containing his reflections on reading entitled Comme un roman. In addition to becoming a best-seller in France, this work has been translated for English readers as both Reads like a Novel and Better than Life. Pennac’s most recent work includes the book Le dictateur et le hamac, a play entitled Merci, and a collection of essays that deal with school from the point of view of a student. This last work, Chagrin d'école, won the Prix Renaudot in 2007.  

French author Daniel Pennac receives 2008 Blue Metropolis Literary Grand Prix from Blue Metropolis Artistic Director Linda Leith in Montreal on April 30, 2008.		French author Daniel Pennac, winner of the 2008 winner Blue Metropolis Grand Prix, signs a copy of his book for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the request of Booker Prize Award Winner Yann Martel at the Blue Metropolis Literary Festival in Montreal on April 30, 2007. Martel has vowed to send a book to Stephen Harper every six months for as long as he is Prime Minister of Canada. " For more info: http://www.whatisstephenharperreading.ca/