Colette Yver

Born Antoinette de Bergevin in Segré, France, in 1874, she wrote under the name Colette Yver. She became known as a prolific French novelist and essayist, and her work often explored the changing lives of women, especially their place in study, family life, and the professions.

Her novel Princesses de science brought her wide attention when it won the Prix Femina in 1907. Readers and critics connected her with debates of her time: she was interested in women's ambitions and independence, but she wrote from a distinctly Catholic perspective that set her apart from many other writers discussing similar themes.

She continued publishing for decades and remained a recognizable literary figure in France until her death in Rouen in 1953. Today, she is remembered both for the success of her fiction and for the way her books capture the tensions around modern womanhood in the France of her era.