Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French philosopher, political activist, and writer, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism. Sartre was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism and was a proponent of Libertarian Marxism. His work has influenced sociology, critical theory, post-colonial theory, and literary studies. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature despite attempting to refuse it, saying that he always declined official honors and that "a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution". The Nobel Prize in Literature 1964, announced October 22, 1964. Jean-Paul Sartre, “for his work which, rich in ideas and filled with the spirit of freedom and the quest for truth, has exerted a far-reaching influence on our age”. Jean-Paul Sartre: born 1905, Paris, France. Wiki link Data: the Nobel Foundation (CC0).