The Academy, which decides each year's winner of the prestigious 10 million-krona ($1.4 million) award, praised Le Clezio as an "author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization."
Le Clezio, 68, became famous at 23 with his first novel, Proces-Verbal, which was awarded the Prix Renaudot in 1963. Since then he has published a wide variety of novels, essays and short fiction, and two translations on Indian mythology.
He is due to receive the award at a ceremony in the Swedish capital in December.
On Friday, the Academy is to announce a Nobel Peace Price winner.
All the awards bar one will be handed out by Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf in Stockholm on the December 10 anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who established the prizes in his will.
The exception is the Nobel Peace Prize, which is awarded in Oslo in the presence of King Harald V of Norway the same day.
