Annie Ernaux has always felt at once ahead of her time and entirely in step with it. The author of over 20 fiercely personal books, including gripping accounts of her then-illegal abortion in the early ’60s, she became the first French woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2022, mere months after Roe v. Wade was overturned here in the U.S. Over the decades, Ernaux has examined class shame through close observation of her parents’ lives, accounted for all-consuming romantic obsession, and transcribed fleeting encounters in supermarkets and trains in the Paris suburbs. At 86, the author still has “a lot to write.” Those familiar with Ernaux — an activist and former teacher — will not be surprised that she has been closely monitoring the student-protest movement. In October, French students lamenting disinvestment in education joined forces with unions and the rural populist workers movement the Yellow Vests for largely peaceful demonstrations against government austerity. But after riots left businesses and neighborhoods damaged throughout France, the government responded with crackdowns and curfews. “They’re trampling on our right to protest,” Ernaux said. In a new interview, the author weighs in on the police response to the movement, the state of Me Too following the Gisèle Pelicot case, her hopes and fears six months out from a high-stakes presidential election, and why she approaches every book as if it were her last: nymag.visitlink.me/q4UDl5