Colette

Born Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette in Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, France, in 1873, she became one of the most celebrated French writers of the 20th century. She is widely known simply as Colette, and her career reached far beyond novels: she also worked as a journalist, actress, and performer.

Her early fame came from the Claudine books, and she later wrote many works that explored intimacy, independence, aging, and the textures of everyday life with remarkable clarity. In the English-speaking world, she is especially associated with Gigi, first published in 1944.

Colette died in Paris in 1954, but her writing remains admired for its wit, emotional precision, and fearless attention to the pleasures and pains of human relationships.