An extract from The Birthday Party by Laurent Mauvignier, translated by Daniel Levin Becker
Read an extract from Laurent Mauvignier’s gripping tale The Birthday Party, which was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2023
Laurent Mauvignier
Laurent Mauvignier was born in Tours in 1967 and published his first novel, Loin d’eux (Far from Them], in 1999
Mauvignier has since written numerous novels, including In the Crowd (2006), The Wound (2009) and Continuer [Carrying On] (2018), all published by Éditions de Minuit, and is the winner of 11 literary prizes, including the Prix Wepler and the Prix Amerigo-Vespucci. The author is also a playwright and has written scripts for TV and film.
Laurent Mauvignier’s novel The Birthday Party was longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2023.
The writing is formidable. The slow rhythm of the sentences creates tension as much as the situation itself
— The International Booker Prize 2023 panel of judges on 'The Birthday Party'
All nominated books
This gripping tale of the violent irruptions of the past into the present, from a major contemporary French writer, is a deft unravelling of the stories we hide from others - and from ourselves
