Michka Assayas (born 2 November 1958 in Paris) is a French author, music journalist and radio presenter. In France, he is known for his rock reviews and the ''Dictionnaire du rock'' published in 2000 and his radio show on radio

France Inter France Inter () is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is the successor to Paris Inter, later known as France I, and created as a merger of the France I and France II networks, first as RTF Inter in October 1963, then ren ...

. For his novel ''Exhibition'', which also appeared in a German translation, he received the Prix Découverte Figaro Magazine Fouquet's in 2002 and the

Prix des Deux Magots The Prix des Deux Magots () is a major French literary prize. It is presented to new works, and is generally awarded to works that are more off-beat and less conventional than those that receive the more mainstream Prix Goncourt. The name derives ...

in 2003. The novel is a tribute to the rock and punk of the 1970s and 1980s. Additionally, Assayas wrote ''Bono On Bono: Conversations With Michka Assayas'' in 2005. It is an intimate look at

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

winning Paul David Hewson, better known as

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned voca ...

, main vocalist of the Irish rock band U2.

Early life

Michka Assayas was born in France on 2 November 1958. He is the son of Raymond Assayas, otherwise known as Jacques Rémy, a screenwriter/writer of Turkish-Jewish origin and Catherine de Karolyi, a Hungarian fashion designer. He is the brother of French film director and screenwriter

Olivier Assayas Olivier Assayas (; born 25 January 1955) is a French film director, screenwriter and film critic. Assayas is known for his eclectic filmography, consisting of slow-burning Period Piece Films, period pieces, psychological thrillers, neo-noirs, an ...

Education and writing career

A former student of the Ecole Normale Superieure de Fontenay-Saint-Cloud, he worked in the early 80's for ''Rock & Folk'' where he ardently defended some post-punk bands like ''

Joy Division Joy Division were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris (musici ...

'' in 1981, and '' New Order'' in 1983. Assayas also worked for ''

Libération (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...

''. He was also a columnist in the first version of the magazine ''

Les Inrockuptibles ''Les Inrockuptibles'' (), abbreviated as ''Les Inrocks'', is a French cultural magazine. Started as a monthly in 1986, it became weekly in 1995. As of 2021, it returned to a monthly format. In the beginning, rock music was the magazine's prim ...

'' and has written for '' VSD'', ''7 à Paris'', ''Actuel'', and ''

Le Monde de la musique ''Le Monde de la musique'' was a French monthly musical magazine published from 1978 to 2009 with a circulation of 20,000 copies in 2008. It was founded in 1978 by ''Le Monde'' and ''Télérama'' at the initiative of Jean-Michel Croissandeau, in c ...

''. He was the prime contractor for the "Dictionnaire du rock" (3 volumes, 2650 pages) which was published in 2000 by

Éditions Robert Laffont Éditions Robert Laffont () is a book publishing company in France founded in 1941 by (1916–2010). Its publications are distributed in almost all francophone countries, but mainly in France, Canada and in Belgium. Imprints belonging to Édit ...

, and was a columnist time in issuing Bernard Lenoir on

. He is a longtime friend of the singer Bono of U2, whom he first met him in 1980 while working as a music reporter for the magazine ''Le Monde de la musique''. Assayas finally convinced him to write a book of interviews. The final result, '' Bono on Bono: In Conversations with Michka Assayas'', was published in 2005. From September 2008 to June 2012, he hosted a weekly show on Sunday at 22 pm on the history of rock, 21 Subjective on

France Musique France Musique () is a French national public radio channel owned and operated by Radio France. It is devoted to the broadcasting of music, both live and recorded, with particular emphasis on classical music and jazz. History The channel was lau ...

Novels

*''Empty years'' (1990) *''In her skin'' (1994) *''Exhibition, Prix des Deux Magots'' (2002) *''Solo'' (2009) *''Without identity'' (2011)

Chronicles

*''Backfire'' (1991)

About rock

*''The Beatles and the Sixties (W5 Series) (with Claudius) (1997) '' *''Dictionary of rock'' (as editor) (2000) *''Bono on Bono: Conversations with Michka Assayas'' (2005) *''John Lennon: Unfinished Music'' (with Claude Chastagner, Emma Lavigne and Grazia Caroni) (2005) *''New Wave, Photo-Journal from 1977 to 1983'' (with Pierre René Worms) (2009)

Screenplays

*''

Sushi Sushi ''Sushi Sushi'' is a French film, released on 19 June 1991 and directed by Laurent Perrin. Synopsis Fed up with university life, Maurice Hartmann leaves his studies and creates his own business: Sushi-Express, a Japanese food home delivery busin ...

'' movie by Laurent Perrin (1991) *''Sam enough'' movie by Virginia Thevenet (1992)

Prefaces

*''Fire in the life of Jean-René Huguenin'' (1987) *''Syd Barrett: The lost genius of Pink Floyd Tim Willis'' (2004) *''1001 albums that must be listened to in his life: Rock, Hip Hop, Soul, Dance, World Music, Pop, Techno'' (2006)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Assayas, Michka 20th-century French journalists 21st-century French journalists French music journalists French people of Turkish-Jewish descent French people of Hungarian descent 20th-century French novelists 21st-century French novelists French male screenwriters French screenwriters Writers from Paris ENS Fontenay-Saint-Cloud-Lyon alumni Prix des Deux Magots winners 1958 births Living people Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres French male novelists 20th-century French male writers 21st-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers 21st-century French Sephardi Jews 21st-century Mizrahi Jews