Norman Mailer to bag French honour

NEW YORK, Feb 18 (AFP) Norman Mailer, the one time enfant terrible of the US literary establishment, is to receive France's prestigious Legion of Honour medal in New York next month, the French consulate has announced.

Norman Mailer, the one time enfant terrible of the US literary establishment, is to receive France's prestigious Legion of Honour medal in New York next month, the French consulate has announced.

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The award will be presented to the 83-year-old, two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author at a special ceremony by France's ambassador to the United States, Jean-David Levitte.

Born in Long Branch, New Jersey in 1923, but raised in Brooklyn, Mailer garnered instant fame at the tender age of 25 with his literary debut The Naked and the Dead -- a novel drawn from his experiences as a soldier in the South Pacific during World War II.

Since then, his output has been nothing if not varied and prolific, including 40-odd books - 11 of them novels - plays, screenplays, poems and assorted journalism.

He has married six times, fathered nine children and -- never the shrinking violet - even ran unsuccessfully for the post of New York mayor in 1969.