France's writer Patrick Modiano poses in Paris on November 20, 1978 after he won on November 17 the Goncourt Literary Prize for "Rue des Boutiques obscures". Modiano, a French historical novelist whose work has often focused on World War II and the 1940s, won the Nobel Literature Prize on October 9, 2014. The prize was awarded "for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation," the Swedish Academy said. AFP PHOTO / MICHEL CLEMENT (Photo credit should read MICHEL CLEMENT/AFP/Getty Images)
