Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday congratulated France's winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize for Literature, JMG Le Clezio, calling him the embodiment of France's culture.

"A great traveler, he embodies France's prestige, its culture and its values in a globalized world," Sarkozy said in a statement released shortly after the award was announced.

Le Clezio's winning the prestigious award, the French president went on, "honours France, the French language and all French-speaking communities." (dpa)