author
Bernard Nabonne
1897–1951
A French novelist and biographer from the southwest of France, he is best remembered for the regional color and emotional pull of his 1920s fiction. His novel Maïtena won the Prix Renaudot, helping secure his place in modern French literature.
1 Audiobook
Maïténa : roman
by Bernard Nabonne
About the author
Born in Madiran in 1897 and later dying in Paris in 1951, Bernard Nabonne was a French writer of Béarnais background. He became known first for novels rooted in place and atmosphere, including La Butte aux Cailles and Maïtena.
Maïtena won the Prix Renaudot in 1927, and Nabonne went on to write not only fiction but also historical and biographical works. Sources from the Académie française and the Bibliothèque nationale de France describe him as an author of novels as well as biographies, showing the range of his interests beyond regional storytelling.
His work is often associated with southwestern France, and that local identity seems to have remained an important part of his literary voice. Even in a relatively short life, he built a body of work that linked regional feeling, popular storytelling, and literary recognition.