A coureur des bois or coureur de bois was an independent entrepreneurial French Canadian trader who travelled in New France and the interior of North America, usually to trade with First Nations peoples by exchanging various European items for furs. Some learned the trades and practices of the indigenous peoples.
Charles de Sainte-Maure, duc de Montausier, was a French soldier and, from 1668 to 1680, the governor of the dauphin, the eldest son and heir of Louis XIV, King of France.
Pierre-Esprit Radisson (1636/1640–1710) was a French coureur des bois and explorer in New France. He is often linked to his brother-in-law Médard des Groseilliers. The decision of Radisson and Groseilliers to enter the English service led to the formation of the Hudson's Bay Company. His career was particularly notable for its repeated transitions between serving Britain and France.
Benoît Régent was a French actor.
Jean de Labadie was a 17th-century French Pietist. Originally a Jesuit priest, he became a member of the Reformed Church in 1650, before founding the community which became known as the Labadists in 1669. At its height the movement numbered around 600 with thousands of adherents further afield. It attracted some notable female converts such as the famed poet and scholar, Anna Maria van Schurman, and the entomological artist Maria Merian.
Jean-Claude Carrière was a French novelist, screenwriter and actor. He received an Academy Award for best short film for co-writing Heureux Anniversaire (1963), and was later conferred an Honorary Oscar in 2014. He was nominated for the Academy Award three other times for his work in The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), That Obscure Object of Desire (1977), and The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988). He also won a César Award for Best Original Screenplay in The Return of Martin Guerre (1983).
Sandra Laugier is a French philosopher, who works on moral philosophy, political philosophy, philosophy of language, gender studies, and popular culture. She is a full professor of philosophy at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and a Senior member of the Institut Universitaire de France. She currently serves as the deputy director of the Institut des sciences juridique et philosophique de la Sorbonne. In 2014, she received the title of the Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur. In 2022, she was awarded the Grand Prix Moron by the Académie française.
François de Roubaix was a French film score composer. In a decade, he created a musical style with new sounds, until his death in 1975.
François-Antoine (de) Chevrier was an 18th-century French satirist and playwright. Adolphe van Bever defined him as "the most satirical and the least sociable".
The Fénéon Prize, established in 1949, is awarded annually to a French-language writer and a visual artist no older than 35 years of age. The prize was established by Fanny Fénéon, the widow of French art critic Félix Fénéon. She bequeathed the proceeds from the sale of his art collection to the University of Paris, whose Vice Chancellor chairs the award jury.
Jacques Godin was a Canadian film, television and stage actor. He was born in Montreal, Quebec.
The Prix de l'essai is an annual French essay prize awarded by the Académie française. It was created in 1971 by the Fondation Broquette-Gonin. It is awarded for an individual essay or for the collected works of an essayist. The prize sum was 1000 euros in 2015.
Édouard Fournier was a 19th-century French homme de lettres, playwright, historian, bibliographer and librarian.
The prix Broquette-Gonin was a former prize awarded by the Académie française.
André Major is a Canadian writer from Quebec. He is most noted for his novel Les Rescapés, which won the Governor General's Award for French-language fiction at the 1976 Governor General's Awards. He was later nominated in the same category at the 1987 Governor General's Awards for L'Hiver au cœur and at the 1995 Governor General's Awards for La Vie provisoire, and for the Governor General's Award for French-language non-fiction at the 2008 Governor General's Awards for L'Esprit vagabond.
Luc Lang is a French writer, born in a working-class family.
Robert-Martin Lesuire was a French writer. Several of his works are forerunners of crime fiction - a French dictionary of the subject states that "by the richness of his themes, he inspired a number of writers of popular crime novels in the 19th century". He was also a member of Rouen's Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts.
François Gravel is a Canadian writer from Quebec. Most noted as an author of literature for children and young adults, he has also published a number of adult novels.
