1. Michel Tournier won awards such as the Grand Prix du roman de l'Academie francaise in 1967 for Friday, or, The Other Island and the Prix Goncourt for The Erl-King in 1970.
13 Facts About Michel Tournier
1. 2.
Michel Tournier's inspirations included traditional German culture, Catholicism and the philosophies of Gaston Bachelard.
3.
Michel Tournier resided in Choisel and was a member of the Academie Goncourt.
4.
Michel Tournier's autobiography has been translated and published as The Wind Spirit.
5.
Michel Tournier was on occasion in contention for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
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Michel Tournier learned German early, staying each summer in Germany.
7.
Michel Tournier studied philosophy at the Sorbonne and at the university of Tubingen and attended Maurice de Gandillac's course.
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Michel Tournier wished to teach philosophy at high-school but, like his father, failed to obtain the French agregation.
9.
Michel Tournier joined Radio France as a journalist and translator and hosted L'heure de la culture francaise.
10.
From 1958 to 1968, Michel Tournier was the chief editor of Plon.
11.
In 1967 Michel Tournier published his first book, Vendredi ou les Limbes du Pacifique, a retelling of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, for which he was awarded the Grand Prix du roman de l'Academie francaise.
12.
Michel Tournier co-founded in 1970, with the Arles photographer Lucien Clergue and the historian Jean-Maurice Rouquette, the Rencontres d'Arles.
13.
Michel Tournier died on 18 January 2016 in Choisel, France at the age of 91.