Frédéric Beigbeder (French: [fʁedeʁik bɛɡbede]; born 21 September 1965) is a French writer, literary critic and television presenter. He won the Prix Interallié in 2003 for his novel Windows on the World and the Prix Renaudot in 2009 for his book A French Novel. He is also the creator of the Flore and Sade Awards. In addition, he is the executive director of Lui, a French adult entertainment magazine.
Contents
Life and career
Beigbeder was born into a privileged family in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine. His mother, Christine de Chasteigner, is a translator of novels (Barbara Cartland et al.); his brother is Charles Beigbeder, a businessman. His parents divorced when he was between 5 and 7 years old. He studied at the Lycée Montaigne and Louis-le-Grand, and later at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and the CELSA Paris-Sorbonne. Upon graduation at the age of 24, he began work as a copywriter in Young & Rubicam, then as an author, broadcaster, publisher, and dilettante.
In 1994, Beigbeder founded the "Prix de Flore", which takes its name from the Café de Flore in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The prize is awarded annually to a promising young French author. Vincent Ravalec, Jacques A. Bertrand, Michel Houellebecq are among those who have won the prize. In 2004, the tenth anniversary of the prize, it was awarded to the only American to ever receive it, Bruce Benderson.
Beigbeder is on the jury of the Prix Fitzgerald, a literary prize in the French Riviera where Francis Scott Fitzgerald wrote Tender is the Night.