Frédéric Martel (born 28 October 1967) is a French writer, researcher and journalist. His most famous books are ''The Pink and the Black, Homosexuals in France since 1968'' (1996), ''Mainstream'' (2010) and ''
In the Closet of the Vatican'' (2019), a ''New York Times'' bestseller.
Biography
Frédéric Martel holds a PhD in social sciences and four graduate degrees in philosophy (University of Sorbonne, Paris I), social science (Sorbonne, Paris I), political science (Panthéon, Paris II) and public law (Panthéon, Paris II). He was the head of the book office at the French Embassy in Romania (1990–1992) and a "chargé de mission" at the French ministry of culture (1992). After being advisor to the former Prime Minister
Michel Rocard
Michel Rocard (; 23 August 1930 – 2 July 2016) was a French politician and a member of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party (PS). He served as Prime Minister of France, Prime Minister under François Mitterrand from 1988 to 199 ...
(1993–1994), he served the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, deputy-Prime minister
Martine Aubry
Martine Louise Marie Aubry (; née Delors; born 8 August 1950) is a French politician. She was the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party (''Parti Socialiste'', or PS) from November 2008 to April 2012, and has been the Mayor (France), M ...
, as her speech writer (1997–2000). From 2001 to 2005, he was "cultural attaché" at the French embassy in the US. He has also been a visiting scholar at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
and
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
(2004–2006).
Books
His most famous books are ''The Pink and the Black, Homosexuals in France since 1968'' (1996 – trans. into English at
Stanford University Press
Stanford University Press (SUP) is the publishing house of Stanford University. It is one of the oldest academic presses in the United States and the first university press to be established on the West Coast. It is currently a member of the Ass ...
), ''Mainstream'' (on global culture – 2010), "Smart" (on the "internets" – 2014) and ''De la culture en Amérique'', a book about cultural policies and industries in the United States, which was featured on the cover of the New York Times art section in 2006. NYT's journalist
Alan Riding wrote : "In ''Culture in America'', a 622-page tome weighty with information, Martel challenges the conventional view in France that (French) culture financed and organized by the government is entirely good and that (American) culture shaped by market forces is necessarily bad".
On February 21, 2019, Martel published ''Sodoma'' (trans. into English by Bloomsbury under the title ''In the Closet of the Vatican''). Published simultaneously in eight languages ''In the Closet of the Vatican'' has been an instant best-seller. Based on testimony by 41 cardinals, 52 bishops, 45 nuncios and ambassadors and hundreds of priests,
the book suggests that a large majority of priests and bishops in the Vatican, including those who make the most homophobic and traditional speeches about morality, are homosexuals, practicing or not. "The Corruption of the Vatican’s Gay Elite Has Been Exposed" wrote, in a long piece for ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 185 ...
'',
Andrew Sullivan
Andrew Michael Sullivan (born 10 August 1963) is a British-American political commentator. Sullivan is a former editor of ''The New Republic'', and the author or editor of six books. He started a political blog, ''The Daily Dish'', in 2000, and ...
. The book was praised by
Colm TóibÃn
Colm TóibÃn ( , ; born 30 May 1955) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, critic, playwright and poet.
His first novel, ''The South (novel), The South'', was published in 1990. ''The Blackwater Lightship'' was short ...
, the former head of Dominicans order
Timothy Radcliffe, the British historian Sir
Diarmaid MacCulloch
Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch (; born 31 October 1951) is an English academic and historian, specialising in ecclesiastical history and the history of Christianity. Since 1995, he has been a fellow of St Cross College, Oxford; he was former ...
and dozens of scholars and specialists. The book has been translated into more than twenty languages; it was a bestseller in a dozen countries and a ''New York Times'' bestseller.
Martel wrote, or currently writes, for numerous publications in France and elsewhere (including ''Magazine Littéraire'',
''L'Express'', ''
Le Point
''Le Point'' () is a French weekly political and conservative news magazine published in Paris. It is one of the three major French news magazines.
''Le Point'' was founded in 1972 by former journalists of ''L'Express'' and quickly rose to be ...
'', ''
Le Monde
(; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...
'',
''Dissent'', ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper ...
'', ''
Haaretz
''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...
'' and ''
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
'') and produces its own radio show, "Soft Power", a weekly live talk show on the entertainment, the medias and "the internets" for the French national public radio station
France Culture
France Culture () is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France
Radio France () is the French national public radio broadcaster.
Stations
Radio France offers seven national networks:
*France Inter — Radio France's "generalist ...
(Radio France).
Additionally, he has had high-level academic activities by giving conferences in major American universities (such as Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Berkeley and the MIT), universities in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Hong Kong, China, Japan, India, Egypt (and dozens others countries) and by teaching, from 2005 to 2014, at the
Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris
Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...
(also known as Sciences Po Paris) and at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Paris (also known as
HEC Paris
HEC Paris () is a business school and ''grande école'' located in Jouy-en-Josas, a southwestern outer suburb of Paris, France. It offers Bachelor, MiM, MSc in International Finance, MBA, EMBA, executive education, professional developm ...
). In 2008–2010, he was a researcher for the French Foreign Affairs'
Analysis and Forecasting Centre and he founded the research web site of the
Institut National de l'Audiovisuel regarding creative industries and medias around the world.
In January 2020 he was elected a professor (tenure professor on creative economies) at
Zurich University of the Arts
Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK, ) has approximately 2,500 students, which makes it the largest arts university in Switzerland. The university was established in 2007, following the merger between Zurich's School of Art and Design (HGKZ) and ...
(Switzerland). He was then appointed head of research of the Zurich Centre for Creative Economies.
Main publications
Frédéric Martel is the author of twelve books:
* ''Philosophie du droit et philosophie politique'', LGDJ, 1995 (his thesis in public law published as a book at LGDJ Press)
* ''The Pink and the Black, Homosexuals in France since 1968'', Le Seuil, 1996 (trans. into English in the US by Jane Marie Todd at Stanford University Press, 1999, )
* ''La longue marche des gays'', coll. "
Découvertes Gallimard
(, ; in United Kingdom: ''New Horizons'', in United States: ''Abrams Discoveries'') is an Collection (publishing), editorial collection of Book illustration, illustrated monographic books published by the Éditions Gallimard in Pocket edition, ...
" (n° 417), série Culture et société,
Éditions Gallimard
Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003, it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles.
Founded by G ...
, 2002
* ''Theater, Sur le déclin du théâtre en Amérique et comment il peut résister en France'', La Découverte, 2006
* ''De la culture en Amérique'' (''Culture in America''), Gallimard, 2006 (2007 France-Amériques prize; trans. into in Japanese and in Polish)
* ''Mainstream, Enquête sur la guerre globale de la culture et des médias'' (''On Global War on Culture''), Flammarion, 2010 (trans. into a dozen languages & countries: Germany, Japan, China, Spain, Poland, Mexico, South Korea, Brazil, Italy etc.)
* ''J'aime pas le sarkozysme culturel'' (''Against Sarkozy's Culture''), Flammarion, 2012
* ''Global Gay, How gay culture is changing the world'', Flammarion, 2012 (trans. into Spanish and Italian; adapted as a TV documentary ''Global Gay'', an award-winning film that received the "Grand Prix" by the World Organization Against Torture, OMCT, in Geneva, 2014)
* ''Smart, On the internets'', Stock, 2014 (the book is about to be translated in 8 languages and 15 countries)
* ''
In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy'', Bloomsbury, 2019,
Film and TV documentaries
Yves Jeuland's movie ''Bleu, Blanc, Rose'' was based on Frédéric Martel's ''The Pink and the Black'' (broad. on
France 3
France 3 () is a French free-to-air Public broadcasting, public television network. The second flagship network of France Télévisions, it broadcasts a wide range of general and specialized programming.
France 3 is structured as a Region ...
, National Public Television) and Frédéric Martel has also codirected the documentary ''De la culture en Amérique'' with Frédéric Laffont (broad. on
Arte
Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...
, French-German TV network) and Global Gay with Rémi Lainé (2014).
Distinctions
* Chevalier dans l'
ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...
Bulletin officiel des décorations, médailles et récompenses
sur ''culture.gouv.fr''. (the most important French decoration in the field of arts, culture and literature).
* ''Digital Shapers'' 2020 (the main Swiss prize for the Internet (awarded by ''Bilanz,'' ''Le Temps'' and ''Handelszeitung'').
References
External links
Official website
French NPR : France Culture / ''Soft Power''
* Press clippings
; ttp://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/06/04/winning-the-soft-power-war.html / ''Newsweek''
/ ''New Yorker''
''Foreign Policy''
UCLA Profession's Rossman review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martel, Frederic
20th-century French historians
French gay writers
French LGBTQ rights activists
Historians of LGBTQ topics
Social philosophers
Living people
Radio France people
1967 births
Media coverage of Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals
21st-century French historians