Michel del Castillo (a.k.a. Michel Janicot del Castillo) born in 1933 in
Madrid is a French writer.
Biography
Michel del Castillo was born in Madrid. His father, Michel Janicot, was French and his mother, Cándida Isabel del Castillo, was Spanish.
Interned in the
concentration campRieucros in
Mende with his mother during the
Second World War,[1] he developed a sense of belonging to this town, which has honoured him by naming a school after him.
He first studied politics and psychology, then turned to literature. Influenced by
Miguel de Unamuno and
Fyodor Dostoevsky, his books received many literary prizes, namely Prix Chateaubriand for Le Silence des Pierres (1975);
Renaudot for La nuit du Décret (1981); Prix Maurice Genevoix for Rue des Archives (1994); Prix de l’Écrit Intime for Mon frère l’Idiot (1995); and
Prix Femina essai for Colette, une Certaine France (2001).[2]