Ann Scott (born 3 November 1965) is a French novelist. She is regarded as a social realist for her novels which paint portraits of contemporary youth and her second novel ''Superstars'' has given her a cult status in France.

Biography

She was born and raised in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, France. Her mother is a photographer of Russian descent, and her father, a French businessman and art collector. During the mid eighties, at age 17, she left home and moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England, where she became a musician, playing drums with local rock bands. She then later turned to fashion modelling for two years and was one of the first

tattoo A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several Process of tatt ...

ed fashion model to break through in

prêt-à-porter Ready-to-wear (or ''prêt-à-porter''; abbreviated RTW; "off-the-rack" or "off-the-peg" in casual use) is the term for ready-made garments, sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothin ...

and

couture Couture may refer to: People * Couture (surname) Places Belgium * Couture-Saint-Germain, a village in the municipality of Lasne, Belgium Canada * Couture crater and Lac Couture, an impact crater and the lake that covers it in Quebec, Canada ...

in the eighties. Then at 21, on her return to Paris, she started writing fiction. She is now the author of eight novels including ''Superstars'' which has become a cult novel translated in several countries. She also co-wrote ''Paradize'' for French band Indochine for their album of the same title which sold over a million copies in France. Her penultimate novel ''Cortex'' depicts a domestic terrorist attack at the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

ceremony in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and parts ways with her previous themes. Her latest novel, ''La Grâce et les ténèbres'' (Grace and Darkness), highlights

cyber-surveillance Computer and network surveillance is the monitoring of computer activity and data stored locally on a computer or data being transferred over computer networks such as the Internet. This monitoring is often carried out covertly and may be comple ...

and the fight against

jihadist Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...

propaganda on social networks alongside a group of French citizens named the

Katiba des Narvalos The ''Katiba des Narvalos'' (from Arabic "Katiba"="battalion" and Romani or French slang "Narvalo"="mad") is non-partisan collective constituted from citizens from all venues of life, dedicated to fighting jihadism on social networks and more gener ...

Personal life

She has been romantically involved with several rock musicians and is also known to have had bisexual affairs. She dated French deejay Sextoy for three years, to whom she paid tribute after her death in her third book. Before she became published, she shared a flat in Paris with French writer

Virginie Despentes Virginie Despentes (; born 13 June 1969) is a French writer, novelist, and filmmaker. She is known for her work exploring gender, sexuality, and people who live in poverty or other marginalised conditions. Work Despentes' work is an inventory of ...

. She was close friends to

Daul Kim Kim Daul (Hangul: 김다울 May 31, 1989 – November 19, 2009) was an South Korean model, painter and regular blogger. She died by suicide at the age of 20. Career Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea, on 31 May 1989. She was regularly featured ...

and

Lee Alexander McQueen Lee Alexander McQueen CBE (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen label in 1992, and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His achievements in fashion ...

and paid them tribute in the French magazine ''

Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France's ...

''.

Controversy

She was strongly rejected by a part of the French gay and lesbian community after declaring on the set of French TV show ''Nulle Part Ailleurs'' that she found homosexuality "immature": "Being

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

has often brought some kind of balance to my life, but having strict homosexual relationships led to pathological experiences for me".''Nulle Part Ailleurs'', Canal Plus, 1 January 2001

Bibliography

References

External links

Official Ann Scott website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Ann 1965 births Living people Writers from Paris French people of Russian descent Bisexual women Bisexual novelists French women novelists Postmodern writers French women short story writers French short story writers French LGBT novelists 21st-century LGBT people