Charles Dantzig has written many books of poetry, essays and novels. He is very well-known for his Dictionnaire égoïste de la littérature française (2005) which has won five literary prizes, amongst them the Prix de l’essai de l’Académie française, and Pourquoi Lire? that he wrote in 2010 and for which he received the Grand Prix Jean-Giono. In 2019 he received one of the most prestigious French prizes, the Grand Prix Paul Morand of Literature. Why Read? marks the first time his oeuvre is being translated to English.