French · 1914–1980
Émile Ajar won the 1975 Prix Goncourt for "The Life Before Us," a novel about a boy raised by an aging Holocaust survivor in Belleville. Ajar was actually Romain Gary, who had already won the Goncourt in 1956—the prize can only be awarded once per author. The deception was revealed after Gary's death, making him the only writer to win France's most prestigious literary prize twice.