Alexis Ragougneau was born in 1973.

He made a striking entrance onto the literary stage with his first two detective novels: The Madonna of Notre Dame and The Gospel for Paupers, which were published in the Chemins Nocturnes collection. Readers, bookshop owners and journalists received them with enthusiasm, both in France and abroad.

A brilliant craftsman in so many areas, he decided to break the rules to more freely explore novelistic creation. Hence, Niels, a singularly powerful novel, was born and caught the attention of the Prix Goncourt judges.

For the 2019 literary season, the author slides behind the scenes of classical music with Opus 77.To the rhythm of the five movements of Shostakovich’s violin concerto, from where the book takes its name, he proposes a story of a family, shaped by silences and things unspoken, a portrait of woman, uniting strength and fragility, and a study of the links between the artist and the world.

He is also a playwright and has published several plays with Éditions de L’Amandier and La Fontaine.