André Maurois

Born Émile Salomon Wilhelm Herzog in Elbeuf, France, on July 26, 1885, he wrote under the pen name André Maurois and became known as a novelist, biographer, and essayist. He was educated in Normandy, came from a family of textile manufacturers, and his early life fed the sharp but humane observation that later shaped his writing.

His first major success grew out of his service as a liaison officer during World War I, when he published Les Silences du colonel Bramble. He went on to build a wide readership with biographies noted for their narrative energy, including books on Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, and Benjamin Disraeli, blending careful research with the pace of storytelling.

Maurois was elected to the Académie française in 1938, a sign of the esteem he earned in French literary life. He died on October 9, 1967, and is still remembered as a graceful, accessible writer who helped bring biography to a broad general audience.