The Writer’s Block: A Video Q&A with Laurent Binet

In this segment of The Writer’s Block, Laurent Binet discusses his relationship with his editors, the risks of mixing history and fiction, and why he doesn’t make a distinction between author and narrator.

On November 19, French writer Laurent Binet read from his newly translated novel HHhH at a Salon Reading held by City of Asylum/Pittsburgh. HHhH won the Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman in 2010 and was adapted for the stage and performed at the Théâtre de la Commune in Aubervilliers in 2012. It has been short-listed for several prizes, including the National Book Critics Circle Award, and was selected as one of The New York Times‘ Notable Books of 2012.

Laurent Binet was born in Paris, France, in 1972. He is the author of La Vie professionnelle de Laurent B., a memoir of his experience teaching in secondary schools in Paris. Binet is a professor of French Literature at the University of Paris. His most recent novel, Rien ne se passe comme prévu is a firsthand account of the successful presidential campaign of François Hollande, which Binet wrote while embedded in the campaign staff.