Amélie Nothomb was born in Etterbeek, Belgium on 9 July 1966. Her father was the Belgian diplomat Patrick Nothomb, She lived in Japan from the age of two until she was five years old. Subsequently, she lived in China, New York, Bangladesh, Burma, the United Kingdom and Laos. She is from an old noble Belgian political family and is the grandniece of Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb, a Belgian foreign minister, and great granddaughter of writer and politician Pierre Nothomb. She has one brother and one sister. While in Japan, Nothomb attended a local school and learned Japanese. When she was five, the family moved to China. She remarked in Fear and Trembling that leaving Japan was "a wrenching separation for me". She studied philology at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Having finished her studies, Nothomb returned to Japan to work in a Japanese company in Tokyo. Her experience of this time, is expressed in Fear and Trembling. Nothomb's first novel, Hygiène de l'assassin, was published in 1992. Since then, she has published approximately one novel per year, including Les Catilinaires, Fear and Trembling and Métaphysique des tubes. She has been awarded numerous prizes, including the 1993 Prix Jacques-Chardonne, the 1999 Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française, the Grand prix Jean Giono, and since 2015 has been a member of the Belgium Royal Academy of French language and literature. She wrote a romanticized biography of French female singerRobert in 2002 and during the period 2000–2002 wrote the lyrics for nine tracks by the same artist. A documentary — Amélie Nothomb: une vie entre deux eaux — co-written and directed by Laurelinne Amanieux and Luca Chiari, about Amélie's return to Japan and rediscovery of the beauty of the landscapes, the peaceful rites, the sadness of Fukushima, but especially, the meeting with her Japanese nursemaid, Nishio San was made in 2012. By a Royal Decree of 8 July 2015, Nothomb was ennobled as a non-hereditary baroness.
Works
Books
Unless otherwise stated, all works were originally published in French by Éditions Albin Michel.
Adaptations
Film adaptations
1999: Hygiène de l'assassin, French movie directed by François Ruggieri, with Jean Yanne and Barbara Schulz.
2003: Stupeur et tremblements, French movie directed by Alain Corneau with Sylvie Testud and Kaori Tsuji.
Le sabotage amoureux, Theater Le Ranelagh, Paris, 1999
With Valérie Mairesse, Pétronille de Saint-Rapt, Vanessa Jarry Direction: Annabelle Milot
Le sabotage amoureux, Theater Daniel-Sorano, Vincennes, 2003–2005
With Pauline Foschia, Jeanne Gougeau, Laurence Vielle Adaptation et direction: Brigitte Bailleux, Laurence Vielle
Cosmétique de l'ennemi, "La Compagnie des Sept Lieux", Suisse, 2003–2008
With John Durand and Olivier Renault Adaptation and direction: Emmanuel Samatani and Jean-Daniel Uldry
Les combustibles, Theater Daniel-Sorano, Vincennes, March – April 2008
With Michel Boy, Julie Turin, Grégory Gerrebo Direction: Stéphane Cottin
Métaphysique des tubes, 2007–2009
With Cécile Schletzer and Claire Rieussec Direction: Claire Rieussec
Hygiène de l'assassin, Theater of Namur and Theater "le Public", Bruxelles, September – October 2008
With Daniel Hanssens, Nathalie Cornet, Valérie Marchand and Vincent Lécuyer Direction: Pierre Santini
Biographie de la Faim, Theater of "La Place des Martyrs", Bruxelles, April – May 2009
With Nathalie Cornet, Michel Hinderyckx, Jessica Gazon, Stéphanie Blanchoud... Adaptation and direction: Christine Delmotte
Les Combustibles, Theater of Nesle, Paris, 16 September 2010 – 2 October 2010
With Philippe Doré, Freddy Zimmer, Florine Moreau Direction: Hubert Vinzani
Stupeur et Tremblements, Theater "Le Petit Hébértot", Paris, 18 March 2011 – 22 May 2011
With Layla Metssitane Adaptation and direction: Layla Metssitane
Audio books
Eight of Amélie Nothomb's novels were adapted in the form of audio books, four first ones were published by the editions "VDB", the others by "Audiolib" :
Robert des noms propres : Amélie Nothomb and Véronique Groux de Miéri, La Roque-sur-Pernes, "Éditions VDB", 1 March 2003 .
