Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, known mononymously as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her 1944 novella Gigi, which was the basis for the 1958 film and the 1973 stage production of the same name. Her short story collection The Tendrils of the Vine is also famous in France.
Larousse Gastronomique is an encyclopedia of gastronomy. The majority of the book is about French cuisine, and contains recipes for French dishes and cooking techniques. The first edition included few non-French dishes and ingredients; later editions include many more. The book was originally published by Éditions Larousse in Paris in 1938.
Louis Aragon was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review Littérature. He was also a novelist and editor, a long-time member of the Communist Party and a member of the Académie Goncourt. After 1959, he was a frequent nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The Chartreux is a rare breed of cat from France, and is recognised by a number of registries around the world. The Chartreux is large and muscular with relatively short, fine-boned limbs, and very fast reflexes. They are known for their blue (silver-grey) water-resistant short hair double coats which are often slightly thick in texture and orange or copper-coloured eyes. Chartreux cats are also known for their "smile"; due to the structure of their heads and their tapered muzzles, they often appear to be smiling. Chartreux are exceptional hunters and are highly prized by farmers.
Éditions Gallimard, formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003, it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles.
Marie Darrieussecq is a French writer. She is also a translator, and has practised as a psychoanalyst.
Noël Mathieu better known under his pseudonym Pierre Emmanuel, was a French poet of Christian inspiration.
Maya Zankoul is a Lebanese author, visual artist, blogger and television personality mostly known for her sarcastic cartoons and comics published in her books and her popular webcomic blog, Amalgam.
Agnès Desarthe is a French novelist, children's writer and translator.
Joël Dicker is a Swiss novelist.
Actes Sud is a French publishing house based in Arles. It was founded in 1978 by author Hubert Nyssen. By 2013, the company, then headed by Nyssen's daughter, Françoise Nyssen, had an annual turnover of 60 million euros and 60 staff members.
The Collection Blanche is the great collection of French literature published by the Éditions Gallimard.
Patrick Boucheron is a French historian. He previously taught medieval history at the École normale supérieure and the University of Paris. He is a professor of history at the Collège de France. He is the author of 12 books and or the editor of 5 books. His 2017 book, Histoire mondiale de la France, compiled work by 122 historians and became an unexpected bestseller, with more than 110 000 copies sold. From 2017 to 2020, he hosted Quand l'histoire fait dates, a TV program of 22 episodes which explored different important dates in world history.
François Bott was a French author who after a long career as a journalist and literary critic became a writer of novels, one of which, Une minute d’absence (2001), won the Académie Française's Prix de la Nouvelle. He continued as a literary critic, writing essays focused on other writers, especially Roger Vailland.
Tropisms is an experimental novel by Nathalie Sarraute, first published in 1939. It is considered a forerunner of the Nouveau Roman. Jean Genet, Marguerite Duras and Jean-Paul Sartre all described it as a masterpiece.
Journal, 1887–1910 is a published diary by the French author Jules Renard (1864–1910), covering his life from the age of 23 up until his death aged 46. It was published posthumously in 1925–27, in five volumes.
Amers is a collection of poetry by French writer Saint-John Perse, published in 1957. Perse won the Nobel Prize in Literature three years later.
Hocine Mezali is an Algerian journalist and writer. He had been the head of intelligence during the Battle of Algiers (1956–1957).
Audrée Wilhelmy is a Canadian writer from Quebec.
Mouna Hachim is a Moroccan writer and journalist. She has published several novels and non-fiction books. She has also created documentaries.
