Pascal Quignard
Pascal Quignard was born on 23 April 1948 in Verneuil-sur-Avre, Eure, France. He is a French writer who produces fiction and essays.
He has won several prizes, including the Prix des Critiques in 1980 for Carus, the Prix Goncourt in 2002 for Les Ombres errantes (The Roving Shadows), the French Academy prize in 2000 for Terrasse à Rome (A Terrace in Rome), and the Prix Formentor in 2023.
Quignard is known for his eighty-four Little Treatises (Petits traités), first published in 1990.
His most popular book is All the World’s Mornings (Tous les matins du monde), about the 17th-century viola da gamba players Marin Marais and his teacher Sainte-Colombe. It was adapted into a film in 1991 directed by Alain Corneau, with Quignard co-writing the screenplay. The movie was a big success in France, selling about 2 million tickets in its first year, and it was shown in 31 countries. It reached the United States in 1992. The soundtrack helped make Jordi Savall internationally famous and went platinum.
Quignard has also translated works from Latin, Chinese, and Greek, including Porcius Latro, Kong-souen Long, and Lycophron.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:33 (CET).