French Female Writers

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 1 
Colette
(Best Known for Her Novel 'Gigi')
Colette
11
Birthdate: January 28, 1873
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, France
Died: August 3, 1954

Colette was a French author who received a nomination for the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. She is remembered for her novella Gigi, which inspired the 1958 movie and the 1973 musical of the same name. Her life and work have inspired several films, including the 2018 biographical drama film Colette, where Keira Knightley played the title role.

 2 
George Sand
(One of the Most Popular Writers in Europe in Her Lifetime)
George Sand
9
Birthdate: July 1, 1804
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: June 8, 1876
Nineteenth-century French author Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, better known as George Sand, became a leading figure of the Romantic era of Europe. She is best remembered for works such as La Petite Fadette and had numerous affairs, the most notable of them being the one with composer Frédéric Chopin.
 3 
Anais Nin
(French-Born American Novelist, Diarist and Short Story Writer)
Anais Nin
8
Birthdate: February 21, 1903
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Neuilly-sur-Seine, Paris, France
Died: January 14, 1977

French-Cuban-American diarist, essayist, and novelist Anais Nin wrote several volumes of journals, erotica, novels, critical studies, essays, and short stories. Her journals and diaries are among her most studied works. She had a deep interest in psychoanalysis and studied it extensively with René Allendy and Otto Rank. Critics consider her one of the finest writers of female erotica.

 4 
Simone de Beauvoir
(French Existentialist Philosopher, Writer, Social Theorist, and Feminist Activist)
Simone de Beauvoir
14
Birthdate: January 9, 1908
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: April 14, 1986
French author and existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir is best remembered for her feminist treatise The Second Sex and her novels The Mandarins and She Came to Stay. Her literary contributions also include essays, biographies, and her autobiographical works. She won the Prix Goncourt and the Jerusalem Prize.
 5 
Ève Curie
(Journalist and Pianist Best Known for Writing a Biography of Her Mother “Madame Curie”)
Ève Curie
7
Birthdate: December 6, 1904
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: October 22, 2007

French and American writer, journalist, and pianist Ève Curie was one of the daughters of scientists Marie Curie and Pierre Curie. She was the only one in the Curie family who did not choose a career in science. She authored her mother’s biography and was actively involved with UNICEF, helping women and children in developing countries.

 6 
Olympe de Gouges
(French Playwright, Political Activist, and Advocate for Women's Rights)
Olympe de Gouges
3
Birthdate: May 7, 1748
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Montauban, France
Died: November 3, 1793

Olympe de Gouges was an 18th-century French playwright and political activist. Her writings on women's rights and abolitionism were popular in various countries. She was an outspoken advocate against the slave trade in the French colonies. She demanded that French women be given the same rights as French men. She was executed during the Reign of Terror.

 7 
Marjane Satrapi
(Graphic Novelist Known for Her Works 'Persepolis' and 'Chicken with Plums')
Marjane Satrapi
8
Birthdate: November 22, 1969
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Rasht, Iran

Marjane Satrapi is a graphic novelist, illustrator, cartoonist, children's book author, and film director. Satrapi achieved international recognition in the early-2000s after releasing her critically acclaimed graphic novels. She is best known for writing and directing an animated biographical drama film titled Persepolis, which received nominations at prestigious award ceremonies, such as the Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards, and Golden Globes.

 8 
Mireille Mathieu
(Singer)
Mireille Mathieu
5
Birthdate: July 22, 1946
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Avignon, France
French singer Mireille Mathieu began her career by participating in an annual singing contest in Avignon. She has recorded over 1200 songs in eleven languages in her career spanning over four decades. With more than 150 million albums sold worldwide, the chanteuse is classically known for her illustrious crooning. In 1974, she won the German "Bambi" Music Award.
 9 
Françoise Sagan
(Playwright)
Françoise Sagan
3
Birthdate: June 21, 1935
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Cajarc, France
Died: September 24, 2004
 10 
Claude Cahun
(French Photographer Known for Her Self-Portraits and Tableaux That Incorporated a Surrealist Style and Gender Fluidity)
Claude Cahun
4
Birthdate: October 25, 1894
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Nantes, France
Died: December 8, 1954

Claude Cahun was a French sculptor, surrealist photographer, and writer. He is best remembered for his work as a self-portraitist and writer. Apart from his primary career, Claude Cahun also played a major role in the Second World War, serving as a propagandist and resistance worker.

 11 
Elif Shafak
(Writer)
Elif Shafak
5
Birthdate: October 25, 1971
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Strasbourg, France

Known widely as Turkey’s most popular female author, Elif Shafak is best known for her Booker-shortlisted bestseller 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World. A fierce advocate for gender equality and LGBTQ rights, she is also a 3-time TEDGlobal speaker. She now lives in London, on a self-imposed exile.

 12 
Marguerite Duras
(Former novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker)
Marguerite Duras
4
Birthdate: April 4, 1914
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Vietnam
Died: March 3, 1996
 13 
Marguerite Yourcenar
(French Novelist, Essayist and First Woman Elected to the 'Académie Française')
Marguerite Yourcenar
3
Birthdate: June 8, 1903
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Brussels, Belgium
Died: December 17, 1987

Belgian-born French novelist Marguerite Yourcenar, who later settled in the US, is best remembered for her award-winning works such as Mémoires d'Hadrien. She was also the first female member to be elected to the Académie Française. She used an anagram of her original last name, Crayencour, as her surname.

 14 
Judith Godrèche
(Actress)
Judith Godrèche
5
Birthdate: March 23, 1972
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Paris, France
Height: 5'9" (175 cm)
 15 
Hélène Cixous
(French Feminist Writer and Philosopher Best Known for Her Article ‘The Laugh of the Medusa’)
Hélène Cixous
4
Birthdate: June 5, 1937
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Oran, Algeria

Hélène Cixous is a professor, poet, playwright, rhetorician, literary critic, philosopher, and French feminist writer. She is best known for writing an article titled The Laugh of the Medusa, which earned her popularity and established her as a thinker in post-structural feminism.

 16 
Julia Kristeva
(Bulgarian-French Author and Academic Whose Themes Surrounded on Feminism, Semiotics, and Psychoanalysis)
Julia Kristeva
4
Birthdate: June 24, 1941
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Sliven, Bulgaria

Bulgarian-born French author and literary critic Julia Kristeva is also a professor at the University Paris Diderot. Her writings, such as the Female Genius trilogy, are centered around feminism, semiotics, and psychoanalysis. She has also pioneered semanalysis and has been recognized with honors such as Commander of the Legion of Honor.

 17 
Germaine de Staël
(Philosopher)
Germaine de Staël
4
Birthdate: April 22, 1766
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: July 14, 1817

Germaine de Staël was a French political theorist and woman of letters. She is best remembered for her collaboration with the popular  Swiss-French political thinker Benjamin Constant. Germaine, who was way ahead of her time, is widely regarded as a precursor of feminism.

 18 
Yasmina Reza
(Playwright)
Yasmina Reza
4
Birthdate: May 1, 1959
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Paris, France
 19 
Annie Ernaux
(Writer)
Annie Ernaux
2
Birthdate: September 1, 1940
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Lillebonne, France
 20 
Catherine Breillat
(Filmmaker)
Catherine Breillat
5
Birthdate: July 13, 1948
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Bressuire,France
 21 
Irene Nemirovsky
(Novelist)
Irene Nemirovsky
3
Birthdate: February 24, 1903
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Kiev, Ukraine, Russian Empire
Died: August 17, 1942
 22 
Marie De France
(French poet)
Marie De France
3
Birthdate: 1160 AD
Birthplace: France
Died: 1215 AD
 23 
Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont
(Author)
Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont
3
Birthdate: April 26, 1711
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Rouen, France
Died: September 8, 1780
 24 
Alexandra David-Néel
(Belgian–French Explorer, Anarchist, Spiritualist, and Writer)
Alexandra David-Néel
4
Birthdate: October 24, 1868
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Saint-Mandé, France
Died: September 8, 1969

Alexandra David-Néel was a Belgian–French explorer, anarchist, spiritualist, Buddhist, writer, and opera singer. She is best remembered for traveling to important spiritual centers, including Lhasa, Tibet in 1924, when foreigners were forbidden from entering Lhasa. Alexandra David-Néel wrote more than 30 books and her teachings influenced people like Allen Ginsberg, Benjamin Crème, Jack Kerouac, Ram Dass, and Alan Watts.   

 25 
Princess Marie Bonaparte
(Author)
Princess Marie Bonaparte
5
Birthdate: July 2, 1882
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Saint-Cloud, French Third Republic
Died: September 21, 1962
 26 
Isabelle Collin Dufresne
(Artist)
Isabelle Collin Dufresne
3
Birthdate: September 6, 1935
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: La Tronche, France
Died: June 14, 2014
 27 
Simone Beck
(Author)
Simone Beck
3
Birthdate: July 7, 1904
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Normandy, France
Died: December 20, 1991
 28 
Anne Wiazemsky
(Former Actress, novelist who made her cinema debut at the age of 18, playing Marie, the lead character in Robert Bresson's Au Hasard Balthazar (1966))
Anne Wiazemsky
4
Birthdate: May 14, 1947
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
Died: October 5, 2017
Height: 5'8" (173 cm)
 29 
Adah Isaacs Menken
(Actress)
Adah Isaacs Menken
3
Birthdate: June 15, 1835
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Bordeaux, France
Died: August 10, 1868
 30 
Carine Roitfeld
(Former French Fashion Model)
Carine Roitfeld
3
Birthdate: September 19, 1954
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Paris, France
Height: 5'7" (170 cm)
 31 
Bahia Bakari
(Sole survivor of Yemenia Flight 626)
Bahia Bakari
0
Birthdate: August 15, 1996
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Evry, France
 32 
Emmanuelle Arsan
(Novelist)
Emmanuelle Arsan
5
Birthdate: January 19, 1932
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Bangkok, Thailand
Died: June 12, 2005
 33 
Suha Arafat
(Author)
Suha Arafat
5
Birthdate: July 17, 1963
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Jerusalem, Israel
 34 
Kathleen O'Meara
(Writer)
Kathleen O'Meara
3
Birthdate: 1839 AD
Birthplace: Dublin, Ireland
Died: November 10, 1888
 35 
Madame Roland
(French Revolutionary, Salonnière and Writer)
Madame Roland
3
Birthdate: March 17, 1754
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: November 8, 1793

The wife of Jean-Marie Roland, Madame Roland was a leading French revolutionary and often hosted significant political meets at her salon. She often directed her husband’s political actions and was responsible for creating a rift between the Jacobin and Girondin factions. She was later arrested and guillotined.

 36 
Virginie Despentes
(Writer)
Virginie Despentes
3
Birthdate: June 13, 1969
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Nancy, France
 37 
Marie Drucker
(Journalist)
Marie Drucker
3
Birthdate: December 3, 1974
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Paris, France
Height: 5'6" (168 cm)
 38 
Ninon de l'Enclos
(Author)
Ninon de l'Enclos
3
Birthdate: November 10, 1620
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: October 17, 1705
 39 
Élisabeth Depardieu
(Actress)
Élisabeth Depardieu
4
Birthdate: August 5, 1941
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Paris, France
 40 
Mijanou Bardot
(Actress)
Mijanou Bardot
6
Birthdate: May 5, 1938
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Paris, France
Height: 5'5" (165 cm)
 41 
Maryse Condé
(Novelist)
Maryse Condé
2
Birthdate: February 11, 1937
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe
 42 
Moira Lister
(Actress)
Moira Lister
4
Birthdate: August 6, 1923
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Cape Town, South Africa
Died: October 27, 2007
 43 
Fred Vargas
(French Historian, Archaeologist and Novelist Known for Her Work on the 'Black Death')
Fred Vargas
3
Birthdate: June 7, 1957
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Paris, France

Fred Vargas is a French archaeologist, historian, and novelist. She is best known for her work on the bubonic plague, the Black Death. In 2009, she became the first author to win three International Dagger Awards for three consecutive novels, having won the award in 2006 and 2008. In 2018, she was honored with the prestigious Princess of Asturias Prize.

 44 
Lucile Hadžihalilović
(Director)
Lucile Hadžihalilović
3
Birthdate: May 7, 1961
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Lyon, France
 45 
Catherine Allegret
(Film actress)
Catherine Allegret
2
Birthdate: April 16, 1946
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
 46 
Monique Wittig
(Novelist)
Monique Wittig
2
Birthdate: July 13, 1935
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Dannemarie, France
Died: January 3, 2003
 47 
Anne Of France
(Regent of France)
Anne Of France
5
Birthdate: April 3, 1461
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Duchy of Brabant
Died: November 14, 1522
 48 
Adele Foucher
(Writer)
Adele Foucher
2
Birthdate: September 27, 1803
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: August 27, 1868
 49 
Jeanne Guyon
(Mystic)
Jeanne Guyon
3
Birthdate: April 13, 1648
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Montargis, France
Died: June 9, 1717
 50 
Liane de Pougy
(Vedette)
Liane de Pougy
2
Birthdate: July 2, 1869
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: La Flèche, France
Died: December 26, 1950

Liane de Pougy was a French dancer and vedette who performed at the Folies Bergère in Paris. Remembered for her captivating looks, de Pougy was widely regarded as one of Paris's most notorious courtesans. She also served as the subject for many artists like Paul César Helleu and Jean Baptiste Guth.