Fun Facts Friday: Colette

Colette (28 January, 1873 – 3 August, 1954) was the foremost female French author of her time.

Books by Colette*

Fun Facts about Colette:

1. Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette was born in of Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, in north-central France (the Puisaye region).
2. Colette’s father, Jules-Joseph Colette, was a war hero who lost a leg in the Second Italian War of Independence. As a thanks to his service, Jules-Joseph was awarded the post of tax collector.
3. The family was well off, and Collette attended public school from until she was 17.
4. Colette married a well know author and publisher, Henry Gauthier-Villars, known as Willy. The marriage allowed Colette to devote her time to writing. However, her first four novels, appeared under his name. In fact, Colette have admitted that if she didn’t marry him, she wouldn’t have become a writer.
5. When the couple separated, Colette had no access to the earnings from her books.
6. After several gender ambiguous affairs, Colette married Henry de Jouvenel, an editor, in 1912, but divorced in 1924, partly due to Colette having an affair with her 16-year-old stepson.
7. By that time, however, Colette was already an established author, known as France’s greatest woman writer.
8. Colette was not only a famous author, but she was also a successful actress and journalist.
9. When the Nazis took over France, Colette’s husband, a Jewish man named Maurice Goudeket, was arrested by the Gestapo and released several weeks later at the intervention of the French wife of the German ambassador.
10. In 1944, Colette published Gigi, which would become her most famous work. When the book was adapted to a play in 1951 she personally picked Audrey Hepburn, an unknown actress, for the title role.

Books by Colette*

Zohar — Man of la Book
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account, the money is usually spent on books