New Delhi, May 24 -- Anatole France (born Francois-Anatole Thibault, 1844-1924) was a major French novelist, poet, journalist, and literary critic who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1921 for his outstanding body of work, noted for its refined style, humanism, and elegance.

Born in Paris to a family of booksellers, he grew up immersed in literature and was largely self-taught through extensive reading. Over time, he became regarded as an exemplary French man of letters, known for his wit, irony, scepticism, and polished prose, continuing the classical French literary tradition influenced by writers like Voltaire.

His writing style combined grace, subtle satire, philosophical doubt, and a strong humanist outlook. In 1896, he was ele...