Olivier Guez

Olivier Guez
Olivier Guez in 2017
Born	(1974-06-15) 15 June 1974 (age 50) Strasbourg, France
Alma mater	Institut d'études politiques de Strasbourg London School of Economics College of Europe
Occupation(s)	Writer journalist
Known for	Winner of the Prix Renaudot (2017)

Olivier Guez (born 15 June 1974) is a French journalist, essayist and writer. He won the 2017 Prix Renaudot for his novel The Disappearance of Josef Mengele (La disparition de Josef Mengele).[1]

Life

Guez was born and grew up in Strasbourg. His maternal grandmother introduced him to reading at a very young age.

He studied at Sciences Po Strasbourg, the London School of Economics and the College of Europe. He worked as a freelance journalist, for The New York Times, Le Monde, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Le Figaro Magazine, L'Express, Le Point, Politique Internationale, Der Freitag, Der Tages Anzeiger, Das Magazin and Il Foglio.

Between 2000 and 2005, he worked as a reporter in the International Economy Department of La Tribune. He wrote Surveys and reports on Central Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, the European Union, and the geopolitics of oil. He wrote his first book, La Grande Alliance, in collaboration with Frédéric Encel,

In 2017, he wrote a biographical novel The Disappearance of Josef Mengele, (awarded the Prix Renaudot). It documents Josef Mengele (1911–1979), Nazi German officer, war criminal who worked as a doctor at Auschwitz.[2][3][4] The Disappearance of Josef Mengele was one of eight novels in the second selection for the 2017 Prix Goncourt.[5]

In 2024, he wrote another biographical novel, Mesopotamia, that telles the story of Gertrude Bell, an English explorer and archeologist, who had a major role in the creation of Iraq, in the 20's.

Works

• The Grand Alliance. De la Chechnyaie à l'Irak, un nouvel ordre mondial, with Frédéric Encel, éditions Flammarion, 2003, 304 p. ISBN 2-08-210281-5
• The Impossible Return. Une histoire des Juifs en Allemagne depuis 1945, éditions Flammarion, 2007, 336 p. ISBN 978-2-08-210554-5
• La Chute du mur, with Jean-Marc Gonin, fayard editions, 2009, 359 p. ISBN 978-2-213-63312-1
• American Spleen. Un voyage d'Olivier Guez au cœur du déclin américain, éditions Flammarion, coll. « At large », 2012, 270 p. ISBN 978-2-08-126952-1[6]
• Éloge de l'esquive, éditions Flammarion, 2014, 107 p. ISBN 978-2-246-81189-3
• Les Révolutions de Jacques Koskas, éditions Belfond, 2014, 331 p. ISBN 978-2-7144-5792-9[7]
• The Disappearance of Josef Mengele, éditions Grasset, 2017, 240 p. ISBN 978-2-246-85587-3
• Mesopotamia, éditions Grasset, 2024, 420 p. ISBN 978-2-246-81895-3

References

1. Samama, Laurent David. "Olivier Guez : "Faire des hiérarchies de l'horreur n'a pas grand sens" – Les Inrocks". www.lesinrocks.com/ (in French). Retrieved 18 June 2021.
2. Match, Paris (21 November 2017). "Sur les traces de Mengele : le talent monstre d'Olivier Guez". parismatch.com (in French). Retrieved 18 June 2021.
3. Nonnenmacher, Kai (5 May 2018). "Mengeles Verschwinden: Olivier Guez an der Schwelle der Zeitzeugenschaft". Romanische Studien (in German): 383–398. ISSN 2364-4753.
4. "Le romancier Olivier Guez en combat singulier contre Mengele". Le Monde.fr (in French). 24 September 2017. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
5. Contreras, Isabel (11 October 2017). "La deuxième sélection du Goncourt 2017". Livres Hebdo (in French). Retrieved 10 November 2021.
6. ""American Spleen", d'Olivier Guez : sur les routes de l'Amérique en crise". Le Monde.fr (in French). 14 February 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
7. Les Révolutions de Jacques Koskas, Olivier Guez (in French). 20 December 2014.