Jonathan Littell

Jonathan Littell (born October 10, 1967, in New York City) is a Franco-American novelist and nonfiction writer, the son of novelist Robert Littell. He grew up between France and the United States, studied at Yale University, and worked for humanitarian organizations for nine years before leaving in 2001 to write full-time.

His first novel, written directly in French, was Les Bienveillantes (The Kindly Ones, 2006), narrated by a fictional former SS officer; it won the Prix Goncourt and the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française in 2006. He obtained French citizenship in 2007.

He has also published nonfiction, including a report on the war in Chechnya, and won the Prix Sade in 2018 for Une vieille histoire. He lives in Barcelona.