BIBLIOTOPIA 2021 | Interview with Frédéric Pajak (EN translation)

Inventing New Ways of Writing

Frédéric Pajak is a Swiss-French writer, graphic artist, and painter, born in 1955. He has edited and contributed to cultural and satirical periodicals, and is the editor of « Les Cahiers dessinés », devoted to graphic works. He has published more than twenty books – best known for their unique design fusing full-page drawings with biographical and autobiographical narrative – including « Le chagrin d’amour » (2000), « Humour: une biographie de James Joyce » (2001), « Nietzsche et son père » (2001), published at the PUF, and the annual series « Manifeste incertain » (Éditions Noir sur Blanc), which he began in 2012. In addition to the 2014 Prix Médicis essai for the Manifeste incertain 3, he won the Goncourt Prize for Biography in 2019 for the « Manifeste incertain 7» , about Emily Dickinson and Marina Tsetaeva. The first volume is now available in English: « Uncertain Manifesto » (NYRB, 2019). His other subjects included Joyce, Luther, Freud, Nietzsche, Cesare Pavese, and Schopenhauer. He won the 2021 Grand Prix Suisse de la littérature for his entire work. His books present an innovative way of storytelling, reflecting the way writing today is breaking boundaries and opening new possibilities.

La Fondation Jan Michalski, le 6 juin 2021