Patrick Modiano is a French novelist and recipient of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature. He previously won the 2012 Austrian State Prize for European Literature, the 2010 Prix mondial Cino Del Duca from the Institut de France for lifetime achievement, the 1978 Prix Goncourt for "Rue des boutiques obscures," and the 1972 Grand Prix du roman de l Academie francaise for "Les Boulevards de ceinture." His works have been translated into more than forty languages. John Cullen is the translator of many books from French, Spanish, German, and Italian, including Yasmina Khadra s Middle East Trilogy ("The Swallows of Kabul," "The Attack," and "The Sirens of Baghdad"), Kamel Daoud s "The Meursault Investigation," Yasmina Reza s "Happy Are the Happy," and Chantal Thomas s "The Exchange of Princesses." He lives in upstate New York."