Françoise Chandernagor (born 15 June 1945,

Palaiseau Palaiseau () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Palaiseau is a sub-prefecture of the Essonne department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Palaiseau. Inhabitants of Palaiseau ar ...

) is a French writer. The daughter of André Chandernagor, she is a former student of the

École nationale d'administration The École nationale d'administration (generally referred to as ENA, en, National School of Administration) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by President Charles de Gaulle and principal author of the 1958 Constitution Michel Deb ...

, and she became a member of the

Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...

in 1969.

Biography

She was born to a family of masons related to the descendants of an Indian free slave (hence her name). She married Philippe Jurgensen and is the mother of three children. Françoise Chandernagor divides her life between

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

and France's central

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

. After receiving her diploma from the institute of political studies of Paris and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in public law, she was admitted at age 21 to the National School of Administration -

(ÉNA), finishing two years later at the top of her class, the first woman to reach such position. In 1969 she entered the Council of State where she held various legal posts, most notably as Attorney-General. She also held positions in the foreign service, both in cultural and economic affairs, and held leadership positions in charities, particularly as the vice president of the France Foundation until 1988 and as the vice president of the Aguesseau Foundation. In 1991, she drafted the annual report of the

on "sécurité juridique" (The protection of the rights of the citizen in the judicial system). She left the administration and abandoned her career as a civil servant in 1993, to dedicate her time to writing. Since 1981, when she published The King's Way (memories of Madam de

Maintenon Maintenon () is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located southwest of the center of Paris. Maintenon, together with the neighbouring commune of Pierres, form an urban area of 7,075 inhabitants (2017).Françoise d'Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon Françoise d'Aubigné (27 November 1635 – 15 April 1719), known first as Madame Scarron and subsequently as Madame de Maintenon (), was a French noblewoman who secretly married King Louis XIV. Although she was never considered queen of France ...

, the second wife of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

, Françoise Chandernagor wrote six novels and a play (

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

in 1993-1994 and to

in 1994-1995). Several of her novels were translated in fifteen languages, and two of them were the object of television adaptations. Françoise Chandernagor presides the Jean Giono Prize, and is currently the administrator of the Foundation of the Castle of Maintenon, Corporation of the readers of the World, and Century. She is member of the

Académie Goncourt The Société littéraire des Goncourt (Goncourt Literary Society), usually called the Académie Goncourt (Goncourt Academy), is a French literary organisation based in Paris. It was founded in 1900 by the French writer and publisher Edmond de Go ...

since June 1995.

Works

*L'Allée du Roi (1981) *Leçons de ténèbres *La Sans Pareille (1988) *L'Archange de Vienne (1989) *L'Enfant aux loups (1990) *L'Ombre du Soleil (monologue théâtral after ''L'Allée du Roi'', 1994) *L'Enfant des Lumières (1995) *La Première épouse (1998) *Maintenon (in collaboration with Georges Poisson, 2001) *La Chambre (2002) *Couleur du temps (2004)

External links

Site de Françoise ChandernagorSite of Académie Goncourt
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandernagor, Francoise French women novelists French memoirists 1945 births Living people French women dramatists and playwrights 20th-century French women writers 20th-century French writers French women memoirists École nationale d'administration alumni