Jean Echenoz was born in Orange in 1947. Little
is known of him other than that he studied organic chemistry in Lille
and possibly then the double bass in Metz, before turning to writing.
Lake is his fifth novel. His first, Le méridien de Greenwich, was published
in 1979. Cherokee, was awarded the Prix Medicis in 1983, followed by L’équipée
malaise (1987) and L’occupation des sols (1988). He then published Nous
trois (1992), Les grandes blondes (1995) and Un An (1997). "
I’M OFF " is the winner of the 1999 Prix Goncourt.