In haar toespraak bij de uitreiking van de Nobelprijs voor literatuur ging Annie Ernaux in op de redenen waarom ze schreef. Ze sprak over haar milieu, het schrijven in de ik-vorm en de achterstelling van vrouwen in de literatuur:

We see it today in the revolt of women who have found the words to disrupt male power and who have risen up, as in Iran, against its most archaic form. Writing in a democratic country, however, I continue to wonder about the place women occupy in the literary field. They have not yet gained legitimacy as producers of written works. There are men in the world, including the Western intellectual spheres, for whom books written by women simply do not exist; they never cite them. The recognition of my work by the Swedish Academy is a sign of hope for all female writers.

Je kunt de lezing hier nalezen (in het Engels, Zweeds of Frans).

DE signeersessie van Ernaux bracht nogal wat mensen op de been.