25 Most Famous French Authors

25 Most Famous French Authors

It’s no surprise that there are so many French writers, given the importance of language and literary tradition in French culture. The French have long believed that there is beauty in the written word, and this belief has given birth to some of the world’s most admired authors and literary figures.

The French language, unlike English, has official rules. In 1635, the Acadèmie Française was established with the responsibility of defining the French language dictionary, grammar, and punctuation.

And, given the country’s turbulent history over the centuries, there has been plenty of fodder for its writers. From philosophical writings to novels, plays, and even science fiction, there is something for everyone to enjoy.

1. Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo is the first author that comes to mind when discussing famous French writers. Victor Hugo’s career spanned more than 60 years, and his works included poetry, essays, and satire.

His most famous works include Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, both of which are still well-known today. His books have been translated into over 60 languages, making it simple to find his work no matter where you are.

2. Honoré de Balzac

Honoré de Balzac. Photo by Filo gèn’. Wikimedia Commons

Honoré de Balzac was a great playwright and novelist. He is best known for his collection of 91 stories and essays, La Comédie Humaine. It discusses many issues that arose during the French Revolution, such as money and power. Consider reading Pere Goriot’s Droll Stories, Lost Illusions, and Cesar Birotteau’s Rise and Fall.

3. Émile Zola

Émile Zola. Photo by Nadar. Wikimedia Commons

Émile Zola wrote numerous books, short stories, and essays during his career. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature twice, in 1901 and 1902, for works such as Germinal, Thérèse Raquin, and The Fortune of the Rougons.

4. Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust. Photo by Otto Wegener. Wikimedia Commons

During the twentieth century, Marcel Proust was known as one of the top French writers, primarily commenting on societal changes. Do read In Search of Lost Time, but keep in mind that it is divided into seven volumes. Consider reading Swann’s Way or The Fugitive, two of his other outstanding works.

5. George Sand

George Sand. Photo from Wikimedia Commons

George Sand is one of France’s most well-known female authors. Her real name was Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, and her pen name was George Sand. She even went so far as to dress in male attire in public.

Despite having to take on the persona of a man in order to have her work published, she was a powerful advocate for women’s rights and the working class. She also launched her own newspaper to spread the word about her writings, and much of her work inspired others. She was a lover of Frederic Chopin, who was one of the most famous composers of all time.

Indiana was one of her most well-known works.

6. Voltaire

Francois Marie Arouet’s nom de plume, or pen name, is Voltaire. He was a prolific 18th-century writer who wrote essays, biographies, novels, plays, poems, and even scientific reports. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers of all time, and he is credited with laying the groundwork for writers of the Romantic and Victorian eras.

In addition, Voltaire was a prominent advocate of civil liberties, famously saying that you should judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers. He was a leading voice during the French Revolution of 1789, and two of his most famous works were Letters to England and Candide.

7. Albert Camus

Despite his short life, Albert Camus is widely regarded as one of the greatest French writers of all time. He was born in French Algeria, and his parents were Pieds Noirs. He also studied philosophy at Algiers University.

Albert Camus eventually settled in Paris. During World War II, when Nazi Germany invaded France, he joined the French Resistance. Camus was the editor-in-chief of Combat, a newspaper that was outlawed by Vichy France, Nazi Germany’s puppet state after France’s surrender. Despite France’s surrender, Albert Camus never gave up hope, and he stated that freedom is nothing more than a chance to be better.

He received the Nobel Prize in literature when he was only 44 years old, in 1957. His most famous work, The Stranger, remains a bestseller to this day.

8. Gustave Flaubert

Gustave is widely regarded as the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. He is best known for his debut novel Madame Bovary, his Correspondence, and his obsessive attention to style and aesthetics.

Flaubert’s protégé was the celebrated short story writer Guy de Maupassant. A group of CNRS researchers published a paper in honour of Flaubert’s 198th birthday (12 December 2019).

9. Jean-Paul

Jean-Paul Sartre was a well-known French novelist, playwright, and philosopher. In addition to writing, he also directed films. He was born in Paris and met Simone de Beauvoir, another prominent French writer, in college. He and Simone lived together during the days of Vichy France, the puppet state established after France’s surrender to Germany during World War II.

Many of Jean-Paul Sartre’s works reflect his sympathies for liberal ideals. His most well-known works include the Age of Reason and Nausee, which translates as nausea. He also wrote about the plight of the working class and minorities in France, especially those of African descent and Jews. In, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1964.

10. Antoine de Saint Exupery

It is difficult to discuss the greatest French authors without mentioning Antoine de Saint Exupery, the author of Le Petit Prince. Even though the story appears to be written for young children at first, it is clear that there are numerous ideas and themes that adults will enjoy.

Saint-Exupery served in the free French air force during WWII before becoming a writer. Unfortunately, he went missing while on a mission in 1944 and was never found. As a result, many of his works were published after his death by his family. Aside from his work on The Little Prince, some of his other well-known novels include Airman’s Odyssey and Wind, Sand, and Stars.

11. Guy de Maupassant

Guy de Maupassant. Photo by Nadar. Wikimedia Commons

Henri Ren Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular French author who wrote under the pen name Guy de Maupassant. He is regarded as one of the modern short story’s forefathers, as well as one of its finest practitioners. Many writers were influenced by his prolific and widely admired body of work.

During his lifetime, he was a popular writer who had the good fortune to have his stories widely read. He fought in the Franco-Prussian War as a young man. He drew heavily on that experience, and the war serves as the backdrop for many of his stories, which frequently depict the tragedy and suffering of innocent civilians caught in the path of war. Not only that, but he also found inspiration in the bourgeoisie’s less-than-admirable behaviour, and made them the targets of his biting pessimism and skewering pen.

The Necklace is probably his most famous work for English readers. If you are unfamiliar with his works, consider starting with A Piece of String, Mademoiselle Fifi, Miss Harriet, My Uncle Jules, Found on a Drowned Man, and The Wreck. If you have the stomach for it, you should read The Hand, his truly terrifying piece of Gothic Fiction.

12. Alexandre Dumas

The Three Musketeers and The Comte de Monte Cristo are two of Alexandre Dumas’ best-known works. During his career, he also worked for the French government before going on to write numerous novels in a variety of genres.

13. Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir. Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Simone de Beauvoir was a well-known French writer and feminist activist. She was well-known for her feminist existentialism and feminist theory. She famously stated that a woman is not born, but rather develops.

Fortunately, her efforts were rewarded, as France granted women the right to vote in 1946, right in the middle of her life. One of her most famous works was The Second Sex, a treatise published in 1949. The book delves into the history of women’s oppression in France. She also spent a significant portion of her life with another prominent French writer, Jean-Paul Sartre.

14. Molière

Molière. Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Molière is the pen name of Jean Baptiste Poquelin, one of the world’s greatest comic geniuses and undisputed master of “social comedy.” He almost single-handedly brought French social comedy international acclaim and established the form as one of the more enduring types of comedy.

He examined many aspects of his contemporary society and the essential characteristics of various types of people in his plays. His critical insights into the nature of types such as the hypocrite, misanthrope, and miser are almost as contemporary today as they were when he wrote them.

Tartuffe and The Misanthrope are two of his most famous works.

15. Jules Verne

Jules Verne. Photo by Étienne Carjat. Wikimedia Commons

If you enjoy works of science fiction, Jules Verne is unquestionably a writer you should read. You’ve probably heard of at least a few of his books. Around the World in 80 Days, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas: A World Tour Underwater, and The Journey to the Center of the Earth are among his most famous works.

His works have captivated the imagination of multiple generations of people of all ages. When you read his stories, you will be transported to another place and time. Even if you read his works today, you’ll probably wonder what the future holds.

He wrote autobiographies, songs, and poetry in addition to his work as a storyteller.

16. Jacques Prévert

Jacques Prévert. Photo by Adolf Hoffmeister. Wikimedia Commons

Jacques Prévert was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems gained and continue to gain popularity in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. His most acclaimed films, including Les Enfants du Paradis, were part of the poetic realist movement (1945). In 1946, he released his first book.

17. Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire. Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Charles Baudelaire is one of those underappreciated yet great French writers whose potential and worth become apparent only after reading his essays and poems.

Les Fleurs du Mal, a collection of nearly all of Charles’ poems, was his best work (The Flowers of Evil). However, it was not published for many years after he wrote it. In fact, the third edition of the series was published posthumously with 14 previously unpublished poems.

Through this series, Charles is thought to have coined the term “modernity,” paving the way for modernist movements. In addition, he is regarded as one of the first translators of Edgar Allan Poe’s works.

18. Charles Perrault

A portrait of Charles Perrault. Photo by Charles Le Brun. Wikimedia Commons

Charles Perrault is not only regarded as one of France’s most famous writers, but his fame extends far and wide.

You may or may not have heard of him, but you have undoubtedly heard of his famous works, which include Puss in Boots (le Chat Botté), Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty, all of which were included in his collection Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals, also known as Tales of Mother Goose.

Charles had no idea that these folk/fairy tales would become as popular as they did, or that they would be relevant to countless generations after him.

19. Marguerite Duras

Marguerite Duras, a pseudonym for her birth name Marguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu, is a French screenwriter, playwright, novelist, and film director who was born in Vietnam but is regarded as one of the greatest French writers of the twentieth century.

Marguerite achieved international acclaim for her screenplay for the film Hiroshima mon amour (1959), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award.

Her other well-known work is L’Amant, or The Lover, an autobiographical novel that earned her a Prix Goncourt the same year. In 1992, the book was adapted into a critically acclaimed film with the same English title.

20. Colette

In 1948, Sidonie-Gabriella Colette, better known as Colette, was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. She was also a journalist, an actor, and a well-known mime artist. Her stories have a unique appeal in that she immerses her readers in the worlds of her characters through highly sensual prose.

As a result, her characters experience intense sympathy for the pain and joy of love. Her most famous work is the novel Gigi, which was adapted into one of the twentieth century’s most famous musical films.

21. Guillaume Musso

Guillaume Musso, one of France’s most popular authors, has sold over 11 million copies of his novels worldwide, and his works have been translated into 34 languages. His first novel, Et Après (2004), catapulted him to international prominence. He has since published 15 novels. His writing effectively combines intensity, love, and suspense, engrossing the reader with each page.

Un Appartement à Paris, one of his most recent novels, follows friends Madeline and Gaspard on a journey to rediscover the paintings of the enigmatic Sean Lorenz. Along the way, the two must confront their own troubling pasts.

22. Édouard Louis

At only 27 years old, Édouard Louis might just be the youngest author on this list but one of the most sophisticated. He’s only published three novels, all of which have received widespread international acclaim. Louis uses personal narrative and objective analysis to address themes of poverty, racism, and social exclusion, drawing inspiration from French sociologists.

En finir avec Eddy Bellegueule, his first novel, is a compassionate autobiographical narrative about growing up in a remote French factory town. History of Violence, his second novel, explores the cyclical nature of violence in society.

23. Katherine Pancol

Katherine Pancol, a journalist turned novelist, has enjoyed critical and commercial success since the publication of her first novel, Moi D’Abord, in 1979. Her writing is fast-paced and action-packed. One of her literary goals, she claims, is to inspire and challenge women while also providing insights into the female psyche. In the United States, she is best known for the translations of two of her best-selling books, Les Yeux jaunes des crocodiles and the sequel La Valse lente des tortues (The Slow Waltz of Turtles).

Trois Baisers, one of Pancol’s most recent novels, is about new beginnings and starting over. Different stories intertwine until they become indistinguishable from one another, leaving both the reader and the characters guessing until the end.

24. Olivier Guez

Guez, unlike the other authors on this list, writes nonfiction rather than fiction. Guez, a journalist by trade and an essayist and novelist by passion, has written for The New York Times, Le Monde, and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. To create his biographies, he goes through a lengthy research process that can last years. His diligence, however, pays off; when you’re finished, you’ll feel as if you truly understand the subject matter of his books.

His most recent novel, La disparition de Josef Mengele, is about the life of a German SS officer and doctor at Auschwitz during WWII. Guez’s book received the Prix Renaudot, a literary excellence award, in 2017.

25. Gilles Legardinier

Gilles Legardinier’s talent is his versatility; he seamlessly transitions from one genre to the next, writing thrillers, historical dramas, and even comedies with great success. His work has been translated into over 20 languages and he is a best-selling author in France. Whatever literary genre you prefer, one of Legardinier’s books is sure to please.

His 2017 novel Une fois dans ma vie is about three women who are brought together by chance and must learn from one another in order to survive. Legardinier urges us to appreciate one another in a humorous and poignant look at human nature.