In 1790, to escape the French Revolution, Louis-Marie count de Chamisso and his wife Anne Marie, born Gargam, left France with their seven children to go successively to Liège, to The Hague, in South Germany (to Wurzbourg, to Bayreuth), then to Berlin. A turning point that will mark the life of the ...

Adolphe Badin (also known as Couschi) who was born a slave in the Danish colony Saint Croix in 1747. Bought for $10 and taken to Europe by a Danish sea captain, he was eventually presented to Sweden’s Queen Lovisa Ulrika as a gift ca. 1757. The Queen who had read Jean-Jaques Rousseau’s book on educ...

Adolphe d’Ennery is a French dramatic author, born in Paris 1811, died there 1899. By turn a lawyer's clerk, painter, and journalist, in 1831 he made more than 280 plays, no less than five of them having been produced upon the Paris stage at one time. He adapted his work to the taste of the public, ...

Alain-Fournier was the pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier (3 October 1886 – 22 September 1914), a French author and soldier. He was the author of a single novel, Le Grand Meaulnes (1913), which has been filmed twice and is considered a classic of French literature. The book is based partly on his chi...

Albert-Antoine Cimochowski, called Albert Cim, (22 October 1845 – 8 May 1924) was a French novelist, literary critic and bibliographer. Born to a French mother and a Polish officer who fled to France after the 1830 November Uprising, Albert Cimochowski entered in Paris a public service career for th...

Alexandre Dumas was  born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie  (24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where père is French for 'father', thus 'the elder/senior'), was a French writer. His works have been translated into many languages, and he is one of the most widely read Fr...

Alexandre Dumas fils 27 July 1824 – 27 November 1895) was a French author and playwright, best known for the romantic novel La Dame aux Camélias (The Lady of the Camellias), published in 1848, which was adapted into Giuseppe Verdi's 1853 opera La traviata (The Fallen Woman), as well as numerous stag...

Alexander Lange Kielland (Norwegian: 18 February 1849 – 6 April 1906) Born in Stavanger, Norway, he grew up in a rich merchant family. He was the son of consul Jens Zetlitz Kielland and great-grandson of Gabriel Schanche Kielland (1760–1821). Kielland was the younger brother of Norwegian landscape p...

Baroness Sophie de Bawr (8 October 1773 – 31 December 1860), born Alexandrine-Sophie Goury de Champgrand, was a French writer, playwright and composer, also known as "Comtesse de Saint-Simon", "Baronne de Bawr", and "M. François". She was born in Paris, the illegitimate daughter of Marquis Charles-J...

Alfred Assollant was born in 20 mars 1827. He was a teacher, journalist, writer and outspoken opponent of Napoleon III. He wrote more than thirty books over thirty years, including historical fiction, collected essays and a treatise on the rights of women, but only The Marvellous (But Authentic) Adv...