Frank Andriat: Belgium ⋆ Author

Throughout the course of his near thirty-year career, Frank Andriat has written over twenty young adult novels that have made their way into the hearts of young people across Belgium and France. Born in Ixelles, a district in Brussels, in 1958, Andriat studied philology at the Free University of Brussels and began writing in his early adulthood. He founded a magazine, Cyclope, with his peers in 1973. Since 1978, Andriat has dedicated himself to writing novels, short stories, and essays for adults and teens, and, as a secondary school teacher at Athénée communal Fernand Blum in Schaerbeek, he is particularly invested in the lives of young people. Since publishing his first teen novel, Le Journal de Jamilla [Jamilla's Diary] in 1986, Andriat has been beloved among young Belgian and French readers, and he continues to delve into the issues faced by young people all over the world.

Andriat works to give voice to marginalized groups and individuals, and his texts connect to young readers by dealing with the deepest and most difficult issues they face on a daily basis. His novels make connections between individuals of differing backgrounds, lifestyles, cultures, and social positions. Through open-minded narration and literary events that mirror the everyday lives of adolescents, Andriat finds a way to speak to all of his readers, and teens are able to identify themselves in his characters. He is able to chip away at stereotypes attributed to his characters, leaving behind only bare human nature, and he tackles issues of homophobia and racism with insight and sensitivity. Andriat does not censor his characters; his primary purpose for his novels is to mirror real life, and that means incorporating the language of various social classes and groups. Choosing not to remove the reader from realistic situations, he has earned trust from young people across the social spectrum in Belgium, and he is appreciated for his ability to give voice to young people who are typically silenced.

Andriat's work has been nominated and awarded with various French and Belgian literary awards, nominations for the Prix Farniente (Belgium) and the Prix des incorruptibles (France) in 2004. His novel Aurore Barbare [Barbarian Darwin] is showcased in the White Ravens Collection at the International Youth Library in Munich, and won the Paul Hurtmans Prize in 2012. His books have sold tens of thousands of copies, and he continues to help struggling youth in France and Belgium find their voices through sympathetic and accessible literary characters.