Jakarta – Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Indonesia's best-known author, is to be honoured by France for his services to literature. The French embassy here said Friday that Pramoedya would be named a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres later this month.

The embassy said the honor, awarded for outstanding creativity or achievements in the fields of arts and literature, would be made by Ambassador Gerard Cros on May 30.

"Pram" as he is known here, was jailed for years by successive regimes in Indonesia, the last time for 14 years by the government of former president Suharto, on suspicion of communist tendencies.

Now 75, the novelist has several times been nominated for the Nobel Literature prize, though for most of his lifetime his books have been banned in Indonesia. "Pramoedya is known and respected in France for his fight against autocracy which he paid for by spending many years in jail," the statement said.